This was found in the parking lot by one of my staff. The only thing I could find out about it was that it's from Belgium and commemorates an event from 1980. There was one on ebay a while ago but the pic is long gone and there wasn't much info on it in the description. Anyone know what this medallion represents? (Krispy...use your searching magic)
This is a community token. Those were very popular in the 1980's and many towns and communities issued one (or some). They were accepted by merchants between the circulation period which was put on the token. They don't necesseraly commemorates events. This one was issued by Westtoerisme, the Tourism board of the provinde of West-Vlaanderen (West-Flanders). The denomination, 25 Westvlaander, was equal to 25 Belgian francs. The obverse depicts the shield of the province and gives the circulation time: "In omloop van 15 juli tot 15 september 1980" means "circulates from July, 15 until September, 15 1980" On the reverse all the shields of the very touristic coastal towns are depicted: Blankenberge, De Haan, Knokke-Heist, Bredene, De Panne, Koksijde, Middelkerke, Nieuwpoort and Oostende.
Thank you very much for the information! This would be very similar to our trade tokens in Canada. They would be used as currency for a limited time during a town or city's centennial or during an annual event. I appreciate you taking the time to post!
