Token - 25 Boordgeld Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland ND

Reverse

SMN, logo of the Stoomvaart shipping line.

Script: Latin

Lettering: SMN

Unabridged legend: Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland

Edge

Plain

Comment

Most were struck in 1947. After the second world war, the gulden was not convertible and the economy was in a shambles. Unemployment was quite high. Many chose to emigrate, rather than wait for things to get better. Emigration countries were mostly Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Netherlands Antilles and Surinam.

MSN had regular services to most of these countries and what is now Indonesia, which became unsafe quickly. They could not accept Dutch currency on board, as it was not allowed to import or export Dutch money, but they did want people to spend money on board. These tokens could be bought before boarding and spent on the ships. Values are 5, 10, 25 (square), 25 (round), 50 cents, 1, 2-1/2 gulden. A 5 gulden piece was added in 1948.

In 1953, the round 25 cents tokens were replaced by  square ones, because the round tokens had the same size as the US quarters, and were used in parking meters and vending machines in the US.

Price

Values in the table are based on evaluations by sales realized on Internet platforms. They serve as an indication only for Token - 25 Boordgeld (Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland) ND (1953) item.