A recent rooting around in long forgotten boxes unearthed these; spoils of a 1960s Birmingham childhood as yes, I was collecting 'things' even then. Paper coin bags, or cash bags, were widely used by banks and businesses especially as in 'those days' the vast majority of transactions were by cash, certainly on the buses of Birmingam City Transport although yes, tokens issued by the Department and, I think travel warrants were accepted.
These must date back to the 1960s as BCT ceased to exist in 1969 when the municipal fleet was folded into the new West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive and, of course, these stiff paper bags refer to pre-decimal coinage. Five shillings worth of 'copper' coins would have weighed quite a bit and 'large' threepenny bits were also quite clunky. Bags such as these, and the weight of coins, was later to be part of my working life as a bus conductor in Edinburgh in the 1970s. What a chore cashing-in was at the end of the shift, making sure the takings tallied with the ticket waybill all by way of manual counting out of notes and coins. If you had a quiet 'run-in' to the depot you'd usually start the task early on the lower saloon bench seat and hope that someone tendering for a fare either with a large note or numerous coins didn't appear!
