After reading the inflation thread, I thought this would be appropriate. These Germans were on the ball. If inflation ever got to where 10 pennies weren't worth a beer this coin still was. ...Hmmmm...beer backed currency instead of gold backed.....Something to think about.
That's a token for a glass of bier. What's that have to do with inflation? They have or had those in nearly every country on this planet.
It has to do with inflation because the value is fixed to a glass of beer (a commodity). Just like a gold dollar is always worth at least the gold amount. Due to inflation the 10 German pennies no longer buys a beer, but that token did long after 10 pennies didn't.
personally i think this is a unique piece. it does have one of the qualifying requirements of money being that it has a denomination on it....unique
Then pretty much every token with a fixed "exchange rate" of a commodity and a price, issued in any country and at any time, has something to do with inflation ... Christian
It's not a matter of "having to do with inflation" as much as it is a matter of being inflation resistant. I would rather have a gold coin worth a dollar today, then a paper dollar today, because who knows what the paper dollar will be able to buy tomorrow.
I don't quite get this. Such tokens were used as vouchers at specific times and locations for a specific purpose. (They were common mostly between 1880 and 1910, I think.) At this fixed "rate" of 10 pfennig for one glass of beer. Inflation has nothing to do with this piece - neither in the sense of it being "notgeld" nor in the sense of being inflation resistant. Christian
If the intent of the coin was to fix the price of a glass of beer at 10 pfennig, then you are correct, the coin is not rlevent to the inflation discussion. If the intent was for the coin to be worth 10 pfennig "OR" a glass of beer, then even if beer suddenly cost 11 pfennig, my coin would still get me the glass of beer. That would make the coin inflation proof.
Well, unlike Doug I was not around yet when that piece was issued. But I believe that the two values (glass beer / 10 pf) were coupled here. Do I know for sure? No. Christian
It's like a "forever" postage stamp here in the US. Even as postage rates go up, a forever stamp purchased years ago when postage was cheaper still counts as full price today. A token that is good for a specified amount of a commodity rather than a dollar amount worth of that commodity is certainly inflation proof, so long as the issuer is in business to make good on the deal.
i've seen these old beer tokens and have always wanted one, they're on my to get list. i assume this one was issued by a merchant?
Those beer tokens were used for several purposes. One was to make cash handling easier: The waiter would be given a certain number of tokens at the beginning of the day or shift, the guest would order and pay, and for every beer the waiter would simply put a token into a box. At the end of the work day, the waiter pays the amount "indicated" by the tokens. At some places, the waiters had to buy the tokens first, but the concept was the same. Another reason for beer tokens was that brewery employees usually had the right to get a certain amount of free beer. Some employees used the tokens as means of payment. Yet another purpose: If somebody had a big party, he would buy a certain number of tokens from the landlord, and then give them to his guests. And I am sure there were more opportunities to use such beer tokens. I still find it hard to believe that, in the case of tokens with a dual (glass/10 pf) "face value", the beer value should be the decisive one while the pfennig value would be neglectable. If that is what one wants, just have a "one glass of beer" token. Christian
