Some Holed Tokens of Shanghai

v. 1.00 2/21/1999 by MR PAUL BAKER with many thanks to Thomas Chow
I have a holed token a little like some of the old U.S. transit tokens. But this one has obverse legend "GOOD FOR" / "FIVE CENTS" and the reverse legend is "C.G.O. CO. LTD." / "SHANGHAI". I wanted to know more about this piece. So I hired a "friend" called the internet to find something out about this piece for me. Eventually I got results that were worth waiting for......

A couple of people tell me that C.G.O. Co. Ltd is the China General Omnibus Co. Ltd. and about this firm there was sent to me by Thomas Chow some information from a book published by the Shanghai Collectors' Association:

In 1924 the British established The China General Omnibus Company Ltd. in Shanghai, China. The office located in No. 1171 Connell Road ? (now called Kang Ding Road). There were two routes: one from the present Hong Kou Park to Jing An Temple and the other route from the bunk to Cao Jia Ferry. At that time they started with around 20 old and slow vehicles operated by 300 employees. Later they invested in more than 60 petrol buses and then further invested in 24 high speed diesel buses.

In 1st of April 1934 the first double deck bus started service and became the talk of the town. Unfortunately the double decker tended to be tilted and was stopped after a short period of time and the number of routes increased to 3. In the year 1939 there were around 140 buses in daily service.

The company and the buses were took over by the Japanese military in 1941 during the Pacific War and merged into the Mid-China Metro Transportation Company. Since all the access had been transferred to the miltary, the company could not recover. After the war the access was taken over by the Urban Government of Guomindang (Republic of China) and merged into the Preparatory Committee of Shanghai Public Transportation.

The company during its existence issued 3 sets of tokens for the passengers:

  1. 1924
    1. 2 cents - round, copper/bronze in appearance, two horizontal slots/holes form a Chinese "2", obverse legend "GOOD FOR" / "TWO CENTS", reverse legend presumably "C.G.O. CO. LTD." / "SHANGHAI"
    2. 3 cents - round, silvery coloured nickel-brass alloy, three horizontal slots/holes form a Chinese "3", obverse legend "GOOD FOR" / "THREE CENTS", reverse legend presumably "C.G.O. CO. LTD." / "SHANGHAI"
  2. 1926
    1. 2-1/2 cents - round, copper/bronze in appearance, slots/hole forms a "2½", obverse legend "GOOD FOR" / "2½ CENTS", reverse legend presumably "C.G.O. CO. LTD." / "SHANGHAI"
    2. 5 cents - round, silvery coloured nickel-brass alloy, central area cut away around a five, obverse legend "GOOD FOR" / "FIVE CENTS", reverse legend is "C.G.O. CO. LTD." / "SHANGHAI". It seems that at least for this type the alignment between cut-out and the design struck onto the token is random
  3. 1939 to 1940
    1. 1 cent
    2. 3 cent
    3. 5 cent
    These pieces were all made of Aluminium, they had a bus on one side and the number 1, 3 or 5 on the other. These pieces are NOT holed in anyway.
I have an example of the 5 Cents of the 1926 series. You can see it in the (attached) image. (Separate images of each side are also available which are a little larger and clearer.)

I also have from Rod Sell images of the obverses of pieces 1a, 1b, 2a and 2b. These will soon be sent to Fabrizio Pivari for the WHTCCC pages.

The general style of pieces 1a, 1b, 2a and 2b (also perhaps 3a, 3b and 3c) is as many U.S. transit pieces of the same period - the main similarities being the "GOOD FOR......" statement, the unusual holes and the distinctive cross-hatching pattern of the fields. Various foreign influences were present during this important period of Shanghai's history. I have in my collection just one little piece as evidence of this - what a story it has to tell.

The piece is the C.G.O. Co. Ltd. piece of the 1924 series - the denomination is 2 Cents. Only the front is shown. (Image from Rod Sell) The piece is the C.G.O. Co. Ltd. piece of the 1924 series - the denomination is 3 Cents. Only the front is shown. (Image from Rod Sell)
The piece is the C.G.O. Co. Ltd. piece of the 1926 series - the denomination is 2-1/2 Cents. Only the front is shown. (Image from Rod Sell) The piece is the C.G.O. Co. Ltd. piece of the 1926 series - the denomination is 5 Cents. Only the front is shown. (Image from Rod Sell)
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