Ballykinlar tokens

Banknote issues preceding the Irish Government issues. Joint Stock Banks. Private Banks.
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Mac
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Ballykinlar tokens

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Ballykinlar Internment Camp Tokens 1919-1922

During the Irish war of independence the British military commenced the internment of known Irish nationalists at Ballykinlar. The Ballykinlar Internment Camp was located at Abercorn Barracks in present day Northern Ireland. At its peak the internment camp was home to several thousand internees. The camp was rather like a POW camp in that it had a certain autonomy over its own internal affairs. One of the manifestations of this was the issue of tokens by the internees for use as currency inside the camp.

The tokens are written in Irish, which translates as: “Irish imprisoned in Ballykinlar."

I came across some pics of these recently when I was looking for something else.
The section on Ballykinlar tokens in the main website will be upgraded with these larger pics shortly.

Meanwhile, here is a Ballykinlar One Shilling Token, face and reverse:

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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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I updated the Ballykinlar Token page of the main web site with new, bigger better pics.
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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Uh nice. dunno anything about these. Are they rare? Nothin much out there on them
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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Quite rare. They turn up occasionally in auction.
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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Incidently, I have heard suggestions that there is a 2/6 token, but I have never seen one, or a picture of one.
It is a denomination that would make sense though.
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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Rumours of a 10/- Ballykinlar token were well founded. By good fortune I came across this photo recently.
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BallyKinlar 10 Shilling Token ca. 1919-1921.jpg
BallyKinlar 10 Shilling Token ca. 1919-1921.jpg (101.45 KiB) Viewed 15275 times
Last edited by DOC on 04 Aug 2018 21:50, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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Nice! Do you know what is onthe reverse of it? I guess it is the same as the 5/- token.
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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Are any tokens denominated in pounds known, such as 1 pound, 2 pounds, 5 pounds?
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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Yes. There are £1 tokens. You should have a look at the Ballykinlar token page on the irishpapermoney website for a full list of them.
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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I don't have an image of the reverse. Just spotted the 10 shilling token in an old auction catalogue. I doubt that denominations higher than £1 exist. However, the 2s 6d would be a logical denomination which has not been seen to date.
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

Post by Mac »

@Doc
Nice find! I will add it to the web site Ballykinlar page. That leaves just the mystery of the 2/6 to be solved.
The reverse of the 10 Shilling might be similar to the 5 Shilling, only a guess there though.

EDIT: Duly added to the main website :)
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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Good guess. I can confirm that the 10 shilling token is the same size as the 5 shilling token. I have a scan confirming the relative sizes.
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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Doing a bit of work on these now to add to the website page.

Here is a pic of the earlier tokens issued by the British for use in the camp. These were printed on coloured paper. 10 Shilling and £1 notes were on white paper.
.
Ballykinlar-Internment-Camp-Tokens-British-Issue.jpg
Ballykinlar-Internment-Camp-Tokens-British-Issue.jpg (21.27 KiB) Viewed 7135 times
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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Here is another variant of the 1 penny token. One example has a blue cast while the other example appears to have a much lighter blue colour.
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Ballykinlar 1 Penny ca.1920.jpg
Ballykinlar 1 Penny ca.1920.jpg (141.38 KiB) Viewed 7095 times
Ballykinlar 1 Penny ca. 1920.jpg
Ballykinlar 1 Penny ca. 1920.jpg (126.6 KiB) Viewed 7095 times
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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By good fortune, I came across another, Ballykinlar 10 shillings token. The reverse design aligns with that of the 5 Shillings token. An image of the front and reverse is attached.
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Ballykinlar 10 Shillings Token ca.1921.JPG
Ballykinlar 10 Shillings Token ca.1921.JPG (145.79 KiB) Viewed 5162 times
Ballykinlar 10 Shillings Token ca. 1921 Reverse.JPG
Ballykinlar 10 Shillings Token ca. 1921 Reverse.JPG (138.74 KiB) Viewed 5162 times
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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Nice! Good to have confirmation of the reverse. Thanks for that.
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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A Ballykinlar 6 pence token sold at auction yesterday for more than ten times the estimated hammer price. This appears to be the first example of this type sold at auction which would explain the significant interest.

An account by one of the internees, Francis O’Duffy, suggests that there were 3 token issues in Ballykinlar used as money in Camp 2. The prisoners were not allowed to bring ordinary money into the camp so the British Commandant issued tokens for sums of 1d to £1 against their ‘cash held by him’. This first issue was suspended due to irregularities but the British Commandant allowed the prisoners to use tokens under a new scheme operated by the prisoners’ Camp Commandant. These tokens were similar to the first issue but tore easily and were replaced by the better known round card tokens printed by the firm of ‘O’Loughlin, Murphy & Boland’ located at Upper Dorset Street, Dublin.

The example sold at Whyte’s would appear to be from the first issue.
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Ballykinlar 6 Pence Token ca. 1920.jpg
Ballykinlar 6 Pence Token ca. 1920.jpg (114.75 KiB) Viewed 3471 times
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Re: Ballykinlar tokens

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These earlier tokens are seriously rare.

Lot 253, it fetched 1,250 Euro plus fees.
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