NNP

I do indeed know someone who collects these tokens. I do. One of my favorite areas of numismatic specialization is token coinage & paper money of Ghent, Belgium, 16th-20th centuries, especially Vooruit Cooperative. Vooruit (Flemish for "forward") was not only, or even primarily, a socialist newspaper, but a large workers’ collective meeting hall, bakery, restaurant, and cultural center. It was centered in Ghent, Belgium, and extant 1880 to the late 1970s. It had various other business offshoots, and both affiliates and socialist cooperative copycats in nearby cities. It was a prominent symbol of European socialism between the World Wars. The large building that housed it since 1914 is now an arts center.

Just this year I gave an illustrated presentation on the subject to San Diego's International Numismatic Society, and I created a two-case exhibit of the 27+ different metallic and card stock varieties of Vooruit token "money" that I’ve discovered and obtained, so far.

The tokens and chits are variously denominated in terms of Belgian money, numbers with no monetary unit named, loaves or kilos of bread, or weights of coal. Some of the tokens were sold to workers, but some represented a distribution of profit. They were only good for Vooruit products or services. Attached are photographs of my example of the same token shown in the illustration (the worst I’ve ever seen, and an extremely common token), one different token, and a "bread card." And the Ghent Vooruit building. Also attached are photographs of my exhibit, in its latest iteration.

Ken adds:

To read the complete article, see:
NUMISMATIC NUGGETS: SEPTEMBER 17, 2017 : 1921 Belgium Socialist Newspaper Token (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n38a27.html)