This is a 1 Franc token from the Suez Canal Cooperative Society in Egypt. It was issued in 1892 and is made of aluminum.
The canal was completed decades before 1892. These pieces must have been used by co-op workers at the operating canal.
There are two other token sets that circulated during the 10-year construction of the canal (1859 to 1869). Those tokens are dated 1865. One set is from “Ch. & A. Bazin” and the other from “Borel Lavalley and Co.”
I believe this is an Egyptian bond from the 1940s, or donation receipt, for people to support the war in Palestine. I bought this one off eBay. The note’s denomination is 10 pounds.
I’m interested in learning if these notes were bonds that got paid back or if they were donation receipts. I’ve read descriptions online stating both.
The bonds come in denominations of 50 Pounds, 10 Pounds, 5 Pounds, 100 Piasters, and 50 Piasters.
This rare token was issued by Borel, Lavalley, and Company, an engineering firm and contractor to the Suez Canal Company. Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps and his Suez Canal Company built the canal between 1859 and 1869.
Paul Borel and Alexandre Lavalley formed their company in December 1863. Graduates of a polytechnic school, both worked in the railway industry before joining the canal project. An estimated 74 million cubic meters of material was excavated for the main canal, and Borel and Lavalley handled more than 75 percent of it. (Karabell, 2004, p. 208-210.)
The company issued trade tokens, presumably for workers to buy provisions at the company store. Tokens are good for 20 cents, 50 cents, 1 Franc, or 5 Francs. The 5 Franc pieces are the most rare.
Shown here is a 50 cent piece. The obverse depicts a ship in the center, surrounded by beads and an inscription:
TRAVAUX DU CANAL DE SUEZ
EGYPTE
Translation:
WORKS ON THE SUEZ CANAL
EGYPT
The reverse shows the denomination, a circle of beads, and an inscription:
BOREL LAVALLEY ET COMPIE
BON POUR
50
CENTIMES
1865
Translation:
BOREL LAVALLEY AND COMPANY
GOOD FOR
50
CENTS
1865
Reference: Karabell, Z. (2003). Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal. Knopf.
This woodblock engraving from April 3, 1869, shows the Suez Canal nearing completion. I am interested in the history of the canal and the people who built it. I have a few tokens used by workers at the company store.
Laborers are shown removing rock in a section of the canal. The canal, 164 kilometers long and 8 meters deep, was an enormous engineering challenge. The waterway passed through mostly sand and low lying lakes and rivers connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea,
The canal took 10 years to build. Ferdinand de Lesseps formed the Suez Canal Company to finance and build the canal. The company completed it in November 1869, seven months after this newspaper was printed.
A construction company called Ch. & A. Bazin issued this French Franc token in 1865. It can be found in denominations of 5 Francs, 1 Franc, 50 Centimes, and 20 Centimes.
My local coin club hosts a yearly photo contest. This was my submission for 2023. Alas I didn’t win, but I had fun putting together this image.
The image background is a scan of an original page from the Illustrated London News from March 20, 1869. It depicts Lake Timsah along the canal.
The silver medal is from 1889 on the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Suez Canal. The medal was designed by Louis-Oscar Roty.
Rare and historic Suez Canal tokens sold at a Heritage Auction on February 12-13, including this 50 centimes piece from Ch. & A. Bazin. These tokens were used by workers building the canal and were denominated in French Francs.
The auction, “2024 February 12 – 13 The Lord Collection of Egyptian Coins Showcase Auction,” included rare 5 Franc pieces from both Bazin and Borel Lavalley series. The Bazin piece sold for $3,600, and the Borel Lavelley one went for $2,880. A 5 Franc Bazin piece sold on eBay in February 2022 for $4,035. The Borel Lavalley pieces are more commonly found for sale than the Bazin tokens.
bishquid 