Maron Island Token (German New Guinea)

We've only just recently switched from hard copy to email versions of the Magazine.


Here's the pic of the token from the book:



The reverse is blank except for the manufacturer's name, "Miller & Morris", who were a token-maker in Sydney up to 1910; it is estimated the tokens were made after Mouton's visit to Sydney in 1901.

Also note I was mistaken about the island where these tokens were used; though Mouton was originally settled on New Ireland, his plantation where the tokens would have been used was on New Britain, near the modern village of Takubar, not far from the German colonial capital of Rabaul.

I would be very keen to see a Wahlen token in hand. The enamel seems a rather unnecessary embellishment considering the remoteness of the Hermit Group. I do wonder to what extent this artistic element was appreciated by residents at the time.

As far as I know, the last time one these tokens appeared at auction was in 2011. This was the Status International sale 282 that @Islands_Gamer provided a link to showing the 990 specimen. It is also the only source of a colour photo - this photo being reproduced in Leipner's book on tokens of the German colonies.

Two other specimens are illustrated with black and white photos. Spink Australia sale 34 (Oct 1990) illustrates an 879 specimen and the Australian Coin Review issue 374 (Sept 1995) illustrates a 196 specimen.

There is also mention of a fourth specimen, but no photos. As @Sap stated, seems it was found on the island after Wahlen's departure.

TL;DR: Four examples of the Wahlen token are known to have survived into the latter half of the twentieth century. One imaged in colour; two others in black and white; one not illustrated. Would be grateful to hear if any other examples are known!

Apoda, thank you for your comments. For some reason, your link "collections.museumsvictoria.com.au" shows a blank page (please clarify).
If you have black-and-white photographs of the other two items from old auctions, please post them here in this thread, and I'll try to restore the color images using a computer program.

I've noted the existence of other tokens in New Guinea on various islands. These two examples, as described, were used on Badu Island (Mulgrave Island) in the Torres Straits:

apoda says:




I'd like to say that I've been collecting information about similar items from this region that are related to numismatics in one way or another for a long time. If you're interested and want to compile a complete list and continue this research, I'd be very interested.

I'll say right away that many finds in this region are items that straddle the line between numismatics and something else entirely. I have a geographical list of what I've managed to find through archives and auctions:

Admiralty Islands
Bismarck Archipelago
Manus Island and Los Negros Island
Badu Island (Mulgrave Island)
Bougainville island - North Solomons
British new guinea
D'Entrecasteaux Islands
Louisiade Archipelago
New Britain island
Koruniat Island
Louisiade Archipelago
New Ireland - Cape St. George
Noemfoor island
Samarai Island
Trobriand Islands
West Papua
Hollandia island
Woendi Lagoon (Mios Woendi island)

This is my amateur list of everything I've found in various types of numismatics on all the islands of Papua New Guinea. If anything from the list interests you, I can show it to you for discussion. Feel free to share your findings.

For example, here's what I found about Koruniat island: