Any help figuring out what this is would be great. Thanks!

☠️🏴☠️SCOLINO🏴☠️☠️ · Mar 13, 2026

Red-Coat · Mar 13, 2026

Replied on your other thread (I mistakenly thought the pictures had been lost):

Based on the letters I could see in the legend before the pictures disappeared (restored below), I believe this is one of the many variants of counters for use in games, produced in Germany for the US market. They usually have the words “SPIEL MÜNZE” or "SPIEL MARKE" meaning “play money” in German and I believe I can see the word “SPIEL” at one-o’clock on the eagle side.

They also often have the word “COMPOSITIONS” or shortened versions of it, and I believe I can see that on the Lady Liberty side beginning at seven o'clock (and also on the eagle side, beginning at eight o'clock):

If you enter “spiel munze” or "spiel marke" in the search box on the ‘Token Catalog’ site you’ll see numerous examples with various American designs, although there isn’t an exact match. This kind of thing, though:

https://tokencatalog.com/display_re...Word=&ImagedOnlyOption=&action=DisplayRecords

Mackaydon · Mar 13, 2026

1850 Competition Spiel Marke Gaming Jeton Token - US Coin

The item pictured, SKU #c11045, is the actual item you will receive, if purchased.

huntingtonstampandcoinshop.com

Don in SoCal

Gare · Mar 13, 2026

Jim D. writes: We have a coin, which we think is German. It has no date or mint mark. On one side it has the head of a long curly haired woman with a sort of crown or tiera on her head. The other side has a wreath of leaves and the words SPIEL MARKE. The word SPIEL is above the word MARKE. Can you please identify this coin for us. Thank You.

The coin you have says it is Spiel=play marke=money. Spiel markes were counters or game pieces. They often imitate contemporary coins but leave out the correct legends or denomination to avoid the accusation of counterfeiting. The commercial tokens were NOT used to teach Roman Numerals but to do simple math on a chart that worked similarly to an abacus. Roman numerals were the prevailing number system deep into the 19th century and many European shopkeepers could not do simple math with Arabic numerals.

Actually these tokens were used in a variety of ways. Many people don’t realize that children were still being taught Roman numerals and not arabic numerals in school. (Try multiplying XVII x IV). Since numbers were an enigma to many pre-20th century Europeans, a device on a piece of cloth served as a kind of abacus and instead of beads they used Spiel Markes (In France they were called Jetons). This technique of adding up merchandise and making change was used for at least a couple of hundred years.

Spiel Markes were popular with children as play money. The tokens also became a popular advertising vehicle and were often included political messages. Spiel Markes or similar tokens became substitutes for small change in many countries, including in the United States, during periods of economic chaos. Click the following for more information: Tokens – The Peoples Money.

There is a collector base for these interesting and historical pieces. Approximate value range, depending on type and grade, $5 – $50+