Hey everyone. I recently acquired this interesting coin. Composition is zinc, I believe. Coins reads: Kantine 1, Wihl. Lindner, Bitsch Lager I think it might be a POW camp token, due to the use of words like 'kantine' and 'lager', though I'm far from fluent in german. Could some german speakers lend me a hand? I'd also really love to find out what camp it might have been used at. Thanks, Craig
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANUNVER-WW1-Notgeld-Coin-50-Pfennig-P-O-W-Camp-Munster-II-XXRARE-/190728164561?pt=US_World_Coins&hash=item2c6848d4d1&nma=true&si=8zfrGf3eFX9yiMw7XE2NEdTfL%2B8%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
The token mentions the location - "Bitsch" in German. In French (the place is in northern Lorraine) it is *****e, and that is what we primarily use in today's German too. By the way, "Kantine" is a pretty normal German word for any type of eatery that is part of, say, a factory. Usually implies self service, limited menu and many customers. As far as I know, Bitsch was (in the "German years" 1871-1914/18) a military training/proving place ... Here are some other, similar token from different Kantine operators: http://www.ma-shops.com/saive/item.php5?id=11088&lang=en http://www.ma-shops.com/saive/item.php5?id=11089&lang=en http://www.ma-shops.com/saive/item.php5?id=11090&lang=en http://www.ma-shops.com/saive/item.php5?id=11124&lang=en Christian
Kind of silly that, because the first five characters are verboten in CT, I cannot use the current name of the town here. Well, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitsch and follow the first link (which says "A town and commune of the Moselle département, France") then ... Christian
