BAOR Bank Notes

Its gets better! I have now found a 1/2d token as well.

Picture to follow

WE ARE NOT WORTHY !!

donald wrote:

BAFVs,yes,I remember them well.I thought the smallest item of currency was the 3pence note,can't recall any coins though.Still have a 3pence denomination note!Can anyone recall BAFVs coins,or does anyone have one as proof?
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Don

The only coin I recall being in use in BAOR in the late 50s was the ordinary mint-issued penny. I seem to recall NAAFI used ha'pennys, but I'm not sure. As Donald points out, the smallest denomination of paper BAFV I ever saw was the 3 pence note.

Not to scale

BAF Half Penny Token as mentioned above.

It seems that the Half Penny & Penny Tokens were introduced in France, Belgium & Germany in 1945 (Italy had Lire BAF's & Tokens) but no details as to when they were used till?

But 3 Pennies seems high for some goods like a NAAFI Cup of Tea or Sweets at the time, so change would be needed?

The POG's used today by NAAFI/EFI Canteens in Iraq & now Afghanistan were introduced for the same problem. They adopted US Dollars are they are NATO Bases and for example a can of coke was 90 Cents, and no change was given (no coins) so cardboard printed tokens (POG's) were introduced, and are now in their 4th series (as shown above) and are collectible in their own right!

Always had a thick wallet on pay day though not much value in it, We had to say a few days prior pay day how many BAFS and how many DM we wanted in our pay .In 1956 we were only allowed to spend BAFS in the British run establishments , DMs were for the german pubs. I remember the Exchange rate was 12 DM to the £.

[quote="KIeler sprotten"]Always had a thick wallet on pay day though not much value in it,..........[quote]


I'd forgotten about the loose pennies & halfpennies but, yes, with the lowest BAFV being a red 3d , coins were necessary.  And thinking about days when I was part of the paying out side of the table & remembering the confusion with balancing the books at the end,  made me wonder about difficulties on NS pay days.  Of course it was easier in retrospect.  Cash in hand was only paid out to the nearest five bob so there was no small stuff handed out. And that meant that the majority of non-trade's pay earning Gunners only got £1 a week on pay day.    4 bob a day ( 20p) totted up to £1. 8 . 0   ( £ 1. 40 ) a week.  Stoppages were 3 s. 6 d  ( 17 .1/2 p)  a week for National Insurance. Balance per man was   £1 in hand,  4s. 6d into credits which the Army retained until demob, or used it to pay for any kit deficiencies.  And we managed !  .........  God knows how !

cartav wrote:

KIeler sprotten wrote:

Always had a thick wallet on pay day though not much value in it,  We had to say a few days prior pay day how many BAFS and how many DM we wanted  in our pay .In 1956 we were only allowed to spend BAFS in the British run establishments , DMs were for the german pubs. I remember the Exchange rate was 12 DM to the £.

Ah ! The good old days when our 4 bob a day was enough for a nightly plate of NAAFI chips and a weekly packet of Blanco !   Exchange rate of  £ to DM was limited to £1's worth each pay day, enough for trips  to town & back, an occasional local beer and a Bratwurst from a street corner vendor.  One mate had a ploy to extend his purchasing power.  He'd call in each of the four-bed rooms off the central corridor and plead for 10 pfgs for the trolley fare to Osnabruck. Loose change was kept in an upturned beret on the bedside locker. You tossed him a contribution just to get rid of him.  Sixty years later he's probably made a second million selling Big Issue.........

Hi all,
Those were the good old days; I wish I had kept some BAFS [in clean condition] would get a few bob on eBay these days
Osnabruck trams, I don't think we paid the fare into town, that was a long time ago in 1951/1952
Those bratwurst were good
Anyone remember a sort of club / restaurant in Osnabruck where a large German sang "Du bis mein kliener kartoffle", where was it and what was its name??
Cheers
Sapper 40 Fld Sqn

GEM wrote:

 It was also illegal to sell cigarettes or coffee to locals but it was one way of getting hold of DMs!!

As were 5 gallon jerrycans of petrol.....

[quote="wrinkles"]

larrytheone wrote:

We were in Minden on 61/62 and although often heard references to BAFF's I never actually saw any. We were, from day 1, paid in DM and if memory serves 1DM = just under 2/- (2 shillings or 10p in todays money)
You got 1.5pf change from 1DM for 20 Senior Service cigs.

I was in Minden '55 to '58, and the exchange rate was 12 DM for one pound and sixpence. Cigs were 1 shilling for 20. Beer in the local pubs could be purchased for 25 pfennigs a glass-48 beers for a pound! Happy days.....

Sgmn wrote:

GEM wrote:

 It was also illegal to sell cigarettes or coffee to locals but it was one way of getting hold of DMs!!

As were 5 gallon jerrycans of petrol.....

Who would do something like that?

Sgmn wrote:

wrinkles wrote:

larrytheone wrote:

We were in Minden on 61/62 and although often heard references to BAFF's I never actually saw any. We were, from day 1, paid in DM and if memory serves 1DM = just under 2/- (2 shillings or 10p in todays money)
You got 1.5pf change from 1DM for 20 Senior Service cigs.

I was in Minden '55 to '58, and the exchange rate was 12 DM for one pound and sixpence. Cigs were 1 shilling for 20. Beer in the local pubs could be purchased for 25 pfennigs a glass-48 beers for a pound! Happy days.....

These beers, were they large or small?

By comparison in 1958 a pint of Bitter cost 11d - That's 22ish pints to the pound

Normally 20cl or 25cl. I've still got some of the glasses

Shelldrake wrote:

Sgmn wrote:

GEM wrote:

 It was also illegal to sell cigarettes or coffee to locals but it was one way of getting hold of DMs!!

As were 5 gallon jerrycans of petrol.....

Who would do something like that?

Not sure. The rumour was that some drivers were involved.

Mike_2817 wrote:

Sgmn wrote:

wrinkles wrote:

larrytheone wrote:

We were in Minden on 61/62 and although often heard references to BAFF's I never actually saw any. We were, from day 1, paid in DM and if memory serves 1DM = just under 2/- (2 shillings or 10p in todays money)
You got 1.5pf change from 1DM for 20 Senior Service cigs.

I was in Minden '55 to '58, and the exchange rate was 12 DM for one pound and sixpence. Cigs were 1 shilling for 20. Beer in the local pubs could be purchased for 25 pfennigs a glass-48 beers for a pound! Happy days.....

These beers, were they large or small?

By comparison in 1958 a pint of Bitter cost 11d - That's 22ish pints to the pound

IIRC about a schooner in size.

When I started drinking beer was a shilling a pint. This in Dundee, 1953.

Sgmn wrote:

Shelldrake wrote:

Sgmn wrote:

GEM wrote:

 It was also illegal to sell cigarettes or coffee to locals but it was one way of getting hold of DMs!!

As were 5 gallon jerrycans of petrol.....

Who would do something like that?

Not sure. The rumour was that some drivers were involved.

Ach so! That explains things then, bloody MT, if they weren't drinking they were flogging the kit!!

Shelldrake wrote:

[quote=
As were 5 gallon jerrycans of petrol.....

Who would do something like that? 5 [/quote]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bugger me ! Our NS Jerry cans only held 4. 1/2 gallons. We lost out again to you Regs !!!!!!! ........... Though we did charge a deposit of 5 marks on the can. They rarely came back.

JAL wrote:

Jim,
They were British Armed Forces Vouchers (BAFV).  I can remember them from Brat days too.   They had plastic coins too, with 6 or 8 sides,  but can't remember which one.  I know they had 3d & 6d notes.   I think they stopped using them around 1958/59 when they went over to Deutsch Marks.

Sorry, British Armed Forces Sterling. We went on to Deutsch Marks in 1959, one pound & six pence bought twelve.

Stephen Lock wrote:

my parents or whomever would 'split' the edges of these notes and extract the sliver thread up inside (thereby reducing the face value to "0").  .

Why would they do that?

KrisT wrote:

Stephen Lock wrote:

my parents or whomever would 'split' the edges of these notes and extract the sliver thread up inside (thereby reducing the face value to "0").  .

Why would they do that?

Possibly because the silver was worth more than the note?

Shelldrake wrote:

KrisT wrote:

Stephen Lock wrote:

my parents or whomever would 'split' the edges of these notes and extract the sliver thread up inside (thereby reducing the face value to "0").  .

Why would they do that?

Possibly because the silver was worth more than the note?

What? Collect the thread and bin the note? I hope it was all worth while in the end.

The only one missing, as far as I can see,

any one seen or found the 9/- (nine bob) note?

Reviving an old post...taken from Hamburg District G Branch War Diary dated 10 Jun 46:

Few people are aware that Brit occupation forces will have to pay vouchers in their canteens, clubs etc after 1 Aug 46.  One German has expressed what is probably the average view in that, when the change takes place there will soon be a rush of Germans to collect as many vouchers as possible by one means or another, and put them up for sale

This looks like when BAFVs were introduced

I found this under a VW Car wheel today! I left a Shilling behind!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA-iF45pOlI

I joined 5 Inf Wksps, Dortmund in Oct '63.
A coke cost more than the double rum it went in in the NAAFI.
Cigs were 1/- a pack of 20 but early '64 they went up to 1/3d!!!!!! Didn't we moan! I don't smoke now, but from what I gather of prices today we didn't know we were born back then.
Not sure I'd want to repeat it though.