Queen Wilhelmina Netherlands - one sided old 'coin', no date, zinc? -Info please

I hope you guys can help me. ...
Years ago, I acquired this bracelet for my WWII jewelry collection, sub-category coin bracelets. I came across it again today and I got curious about it.

The person I bought it from didn't know what it was. I believed it was probably a WWII souvenir item and the coins were never actual legal tender. Is this assumption correct? Or, were coins minted without the back imprint?

Has anyone here ever seen any others like this?
I have many WWII coin bracelets so I am familiar with them but I have never seen replica coins made for a WWII bracelet.

If anyone could tell more about this please write. I am interested in the historical aspect of the item, for instance; around what year might these have been created and what the circumstances may have been, occupation?

'Wilhelmina Koningin Der Nederalander' printed on one side.
Queen W is facing left, long hair
The back of the 'coin' is blank.
Measures about 18 mm round.
The material seems softer than standard coins. Maybe it is zinc, lead, pewter or a mix... ?

Thank you so much for your expertise!
~Ann

 

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This is off the top of my head , but the post war Netherlands 10 cent which I think was minted in England initially was very popular for coin bracelets, I have seen dozens of them, always with real mashed coins, not replicas.
It may well have been that in immediate post war Holland, the people could make a modest profit taking fresh shiny coins and turning them into items to sell to the British and US troops thronging the country with money to spend or black market goods to provide..

The Netherlands coins of this period seem to have been very attractive to 'craftsmen' because they made them into all sorts of stuff and is suspect that your bracelet was made rather later, to copy the originals.

I don't know what the metal is but pewter would be a reasonable guess.

 

You could be right. This is truly more believable than these coins being a type of wartime currency.

The good people of the Netherlands had been through a period of occupation and starvation was, unfortunately, common. I hope a family was helped by this bracelet.


Thank you so much for your reply.

~Ann

 

Real coins with the backs ground off would have milled edges. These appear to be plain. There is no way at all that these were ever any form of currency.

I have never seen anything like them, so you do have a rarity, even if not a valuable one.

 

(18 mm. The actual coin is 15 mm.)

I am now completely sure this was a souvenir piece. i think, at first my, these reminded me of a Love Token situation.

Love Tokens from the 1800's and lucky coins from 1700's in England were coins that were smoothed out and then engraved. Popular American tokens used the Liberty seated dime.

Still very interesting! Thanks and Merry Christmas!
~Ann