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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GeorgeM, post: 24634352, member: 28550&quot;]This style of shell cards was popular in France from just after 1871 (the Franco Prussian war) to just after ww2 (when the Code Napoleon &amp; official tolerance of Maison Close [&quot;closed houses&quot; with dedicated prostitutes] came to an end due to its association with Vichy collaboration during the occupation). The <b>Belle Époque </b>was their heyday.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have a small collection. This one is in better condition than most - they tend to degrade quickly with any chemical exposure or damage that pierces the shell.</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s strongly suspected that these lacked a denomination because they were used as Brass Checks. That is, they acted as chits or counters where a patron could truthfully say they had never paid for sex (and the Madame could extract whatever degree of markup she wished). If you bought one for 20 Francs &amp; it was later redeemed for 10 Francs, the house was keeping 50% of the transaction (or 100% if you never spent it). Neither the John nor the Courtesan ever knew how much friction was involved in that way.</p><p><br /></p><p>They may also have been more prosaic advertising pieces - anecdotal evidence suggests perhaps some of these tokens were good at the brothel&#039;s bar for a drink. My suspicion is that the more common type were used in that way, while the rarer types were redeemable as Brass Checks.</p><p><br /></p><p>No less of a contemporary &quot;expert&quot; than Upton Sinclair writes about the widespread use and understanding of Brass Checks in the sindustry:</p><p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brass_Check" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brass_Check" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brass_Check</a></p><p><br /></p><p>However, only one American&nbsp; token is acknowledged by Rulau as serving the function in his US Tokens 1700-1900. I&#039;ve got it slabbed (one of only 3 known, if memory serves). Anyone know the token I&#039;m referring to?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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