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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;svessien, post: 4181020, member: 15481&quot;]Hi all</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m currently reading &quot;The Numismatic Aspects of Leprosy&quot; (yes, there is such a thing) by McFadden/Grost/Marr. </p><p>It&#039;s an interesting book, listing more than 1000 different tokens and bank notes used in leper colonies in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Danish West Indies, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Thailand and Venezuela.</p><p><br /></p><p>With the exception of tokens from Colombia, The Philippines and Venezuela, these tokens are very rare, and there are few collectors. The background for issuing them were threefold: To prevent spreading the disease through coinage (which was unrealistic), preventing the patients at the colonies from getting legal tender with which they could escape the colony, and preventing black market transactions with outside merchants. </p><p><br /></p><p>I only have one Colombia 50 centavo and a Venezuela fractional Bolivar. I would love to see more of these tokens, if any of you have some in your collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1075266[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The book sites a poem by Gilbert S. Perez published in &quot;The Numismatist&quot; September 1946. So will I.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Leper Tokens</u></b></p><p><b><u><br /></u></b></p><p><i>I left the old home</i></p><p><i>Filled with the burning ambition</i></p><p><i>To get somewhere</i></p><p><i>To be something</i></p><p><i>I haunted the columned halls </i></p><p><i>of the University</i></p><p><i>And hung the framed degrees,</i></p><p><i>Parchment after parchment</i></p><p><i>On the walls of my room</i></p><p><i>But where did I go?</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>To a little seagirt isle</i></p><p><i>Where they pumped</i></p><p><i>Ounces upon ounces</i></p><p><i>Of choolmugra oil</i></p><p><i>Into my veins</i></p><p><i>What was I?</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>Jingling in my pockets</i></p><p><i>The dull nickel coins</i></p><p><i>The precious tokens</i></p><p><i>Of the unclean</i></p><p><i>I shuffle along</i></p><p><i>The rock strewn beach</i></p><p><i>Something horrible</i></p><p><i>Something to be shunned</i></p><p><i>And with the sickening</i></p><p><i>Loneliness in my heart</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>I fling </i></p><p><i>A full handful </i></p><p><i>Of the gray discs</i></p><p><i>Far out into </i></p><p><i>The rippling waves</i></p><p><i>A thank offering</i></p><p><i>A sacrifice</i></p><p><i>To Kwan Yin</i></p><p><i>The all-merciful</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>[ATTACH=full]1075267[/ATTACH] </i></p><p><i></i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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