The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 6, February 11, 2007, Article 20

INFORMATION ON TOKENS OF THE CRUISER LAMOTTE-PICQUET SOUGHT

Howard Daniel writes: "During a visit to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
several years ago, I noticed some brass-colored tokens in a junk box.
The obverses have a unit crest-like device with an anchor in the center
and Lamotte-Picquet across the top, and the reverses have 1F, 5F or 10F.
Right now, I can only find these three denominations in my "black hole"
but I thought there was also a 20F denomination.

"During this visit, I looked at the inventory of many different dealers
and shops, and I found a few more of them to purchase, but no more
after that visit.

"I started asking the dealers who was bringing them in and all of them
told me they were non-collectors who found them in the mud south of
Saigon Port where there is much construction for a new port.  They
appeared in the mud and their shine made the people think they were
gold so they jumped in to retrieve them.

"When I got home, I typed Lamotte-Picquet in an Internet search and
found their was a French cruiser (croiseur in French) by that name
docked in that vicinity during WWII and sunk by US Navy bombing in 1945.

"When I told people about it, I got one interesting response from an
old man.  He said there was a ship's store on the cruiser and the crew
and some dock workers could use it.  When the ship was sunk, many of
the crew and workers threw the tokens into the water next to the ship.
Sounds good to me.

"I have been researching the tokens and/or their ships store for
several years and I cannot find a single reference describing them.
Does a reference exist with these tokens in it?  If so, please contact
me at HADaniel3@msn.com."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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