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SS canteen tokens


Ross

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Hi,

new on the forum but been collecting old german WW2 stuff since a boy. Recently acquired a couple of SS 50rf canteen tokens both dated 1939. Bit confused as one made of good quality copper the other poor light alloy. Can anyone out there clarify if they were originally made in 2 forms or any other useful info?? Both relic condition with copper one allegedly found outside berlin and poor alloy one from near Dachau.

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Hi Ross, welcome to the forum, would it be possible for you to post a pic of them please? 

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no problem to do that and I can add to forum for you. Quite easy to do if you want to try just find your images by pressing the browse button just below you type the message than press upload next to that and that will add images, failing that just email them to shop and I will add them for you. 

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Is it possible the first one mentioned could be early or pre war and the second late war? Anything manufactured for KL would I assume be low quality. Dave.

 

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Ross, That's certainly odd. Possibly the KL stuff was cheaper made. Kenny will know if he sees a photo.  

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Here's the pictures Ross sent me, to be honest I have never had one of these before ,I have seen pictures of the "Kantine" RM notes but never the coins. I did see a Kantine coin on a replica site a while ago but can't remember the sites name so we could compare.

dn.asp1.jpg

dn.asp2.jpg

dn.asp3.jpg

dn.asp4.jpg

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I'll see what I can find out about them, pity I couldn't remember the repro site I saw the other one on. So they do make repros of them which is bad but the fact these two are of different metals could be a good sign. I have never handled one of these not even a repro so they can't be that common. More research is needed on this one, anybody else got any ideas?

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OK I've been looking into this for a while and so far it seems a subject that nobody seems to to know a great deal about or have any opinions on which is very unusual. I did find the following account

Each prisoner was allowed up to 10 marks per week to be used for the purchase of cigarettes at the camp canteen, other canteen purchases, brothel visits, or credit to a savings account. The regulations went on to specify that a visit to a brothel would cost 2 marks for which 1.5 marks would be kept by the SS and 0.5 marks would be used for "expenses."

 I take it these were prisoners who helped the Germans ? 

I have also found out many units in the German Army also used these tokens I have attached a picture of Panzer Kantine Geld. It seems the money was used in the canteen instead of Standard RM.

with the above in mind I think it is quite possible the SS coins are OK but would welcome anybody else's input. 

pz1.jpg

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Hi folks, sometimes, just sometimes, I do really have time to read in this forum. So now... I, as a German do not think that the SS-one is a original. 50 Reichspfennig on the front side and Kantinegeld SS on the back.  If you take Kantine as a singleword, it is correct BUT the correct spelling of this, if you write Kantine and Geld, it's KANTINENGELD Regarding to this fact I miss the "N". I'am not really a SS specialsit, but i have the opinion, that wrong spelling is not a sign of original militaria . I also read about those "coins" in german forums, but most of the answers were negative and photos of other SS Kantinengeld were quite different..... 

Greetings

Chris

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Yes I don't have a great feeling about them either 

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Well, I checked a few other websites and there are 2 more things that make me not happy with those items: 

1. ALL Coins I've seen, from people who bought them and people who sell them are marked with 1939. That would mean, that we produced enough coins in 1939 for the "whole" war??? :huh: And before this time, SS members could eat for free??? I don't think so......

2. ALL Coins I've seen, from people who bought them and people who sell them have the amount of 50 Reichspfennig. Is it possible that every meal, every drink and everything that you buy in a canteen costs 50 Reichspfennig???? I don't thnik so......

Of course, there is still a little choice, that those items are ok, but I wouldn't buy them if I could.....

Chris

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Thanks for all the comments much appreciated. Sadly seems to have created more smoke than than light. Biased as I am that I want them to be genuine I would question why anyone would falsify tokens in at leats 2 differnet qualities of metal when apparently noone has heard of them. I paid very little for them (£15 each) not many on the market judgeing by the responses of professional militaria sellers who have never seen them so hardly worth a forgeing a handful of tokens (never seen them on ebay only a couple on other militaria sites in past 5 years). Much more lucrative to do cap badges. Feel free to disagree as still seeking clarity. Wish I could discuss with real SS if any out there.

 

Cheers

 

Ross

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I feel that Chris has nailed it with his observations. Does seem strange that someone should go to the expense of forging a low value and less desirable item. On the other hand there are some real lulus out there! The one consolation you can have, Ross, is that at least they got us thinking and discussing.

Dave.

 

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  • 13 years later...

All of these coins were made of zinc after the war got rolling. They were copper until after 1938 or 39 and then the copper was needed for the war effort just like we had steel penny's here in the US during the war because our copper was going to the war effort also.

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That's why zink is known as "Kriegsmetall". I would tend to be very wary with anything ss-associated, too many fantasy products and fakes on the market.

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