Templer Tokens

German Templer colonies in Palestine The Templers were Germans Protestants who broke away from their church and were led by Christoff Hoffman. They moved to the Holy Land to learn an exemplary way of life in the Bibical tradition. In 1868, they began immigrating to Palestine and settled in Haifa, Jaffa and Jerusalem, as well establishing their own farms. They had their own schools and Church, and engaged in trade and industry. German Templer colonies existed in Palestine from the late 19th and early 20th century. During and shortly after World War II, these colonies were depopulated by the British, and its German residents deported to Australia. At its height, the Templer community in Palestine numbered 2,000.

Templer Tokens

The "Centralcasse," the main financial institution of the Templers, issued tokens which circulated from around 1880 to 1917. It is believed that they were struck at the royal mint of Wurttemberg. The tokens were created as a substitute for "small money" - for use in everyday life, and several reasons led to their issuance:
First, in those days, both under Turkish rule and later, under British rule, there was a considerable shortage of "small money," which severely limited the possibilities of trade and the use of various services.
Second, a significant amount of money came to the community in the Land of Israel from donations and family members from overseas, and the exchangers in the country charged a substantial fee for exchanging the money.
Third, the tokens were also used as a means of payment for the Arab workers who did not believe in paper money.[1]

The tokens circulated in Jaffa and Haifa as well as in Jerusalem, and were issued in denominations of Paras, matching the current Turkish money. They were recalled after World War 1 and subsequently sold to metal dealers to be melted down. Because of this, the tokens are rare and expensive.

There are three types of Templer tokens.
1) Brass face: plow in the center and with the caption "Centralcasse Des Tempels" on the back: token value
2) Brass face like type 1, and in the back, around the entry with the caption "Consummark"
3) Like type 2, but nickel-plated zinc

[1]https://il.bidspirit.com/ui/lotPage/romanoauctions/source/search/auction/25569/lot/20581/Palestine-Israel-Templers-token?lang=en

			Token 1 Piastre 1880 of the Templer community Very rare, less than 5 known of this type - 3.75g Token of a private shop of the Templer community B. Gebruder Beck (G&B) Haifa?
			Templar Token - 1/4 Piaster - Breisch & Gesellschaft 1/4 Piaster token, of a Templar-owned company. Obverse: "B & G" (Breisch & Gesellschaft) with a five-spoked gear bellow. Reverse: denomination. Rare token, unknown to Haffner. The tokens listed in Haffner have the obverse as "B & C" for Breisch and Company. Diameter: 20 mm. VF condition.
		Haffner: CC-14A	1/8 Piaster B&C
		CC-14B	1/4 Piaster B&C Two tokens issued by the "Breish & Company" Jaffa, 1880s. "Breish & Company" was a private commercial company owned by a Templar. Noted on one side is the value of the token and on the second side is the inscription "B&C". The tokens have the values of 1/4 and 1/8 piaster. In 1888, the company was closed and its tokens were redeemed. The Turkish piaster was equivalent to 40 paras.
		CC-13A	5 Paras First Series The Turkish piaster was equivalent to 40 paras.
		CC-13A	10 Paras First Series
		CC-13A	20 Paras First Series
		CC-13A	40 Paras First Series
		CC-13B	5 Paras Second Series
		CC-13B	10 Paras Second Series
		CC-13B	20 Paras Second Series
		CC-13B	40 Paras Second Series
			5 Paras Third Series
			10 Paras Third Series
			20 Paras Third Series
			40 Paras Third Series