Obv. SPÓŁDZIELNIA 15 BAONU K.O.P. / ◦ LUDWIKOWO ◦, Józef Piłsudski’s bust.
5.79 g, 27.7 mm. Bartoszewicki 229.7 (R8a); Jakubowski 211 (R7b). Grade II, residual lustre remains.
The battalion was formed in 1925 to protect an approx. 76-kilometre section of the border with the Soviets. In 1929, Border Protection Battalions adopted the names of garrison towns, but the numbers remained in use until 1931. In 1939, as part of the mobilization, the Ludwikowo battalion was incorporated into the ‘Karpaty’ (later ‘Małopolska’) Army. The battalion in Ludwikowo was recreated from reservists and recruits then.
Five zlotys is the only known denomination of this issuer; despite its great rarity, it is known in two diameters: 27.0 and 27.7 mm. Certainly, it is not made of brass, as reported in the literature, but perhaps of copper. Only three military cooperatives used the motif of J. Piłsudski's portrait; apart from the Ludwikowo one, the Central Shooting School in Toruń and the Jabłonna-Legionowo garrison.
Tokens of consumer cooperatives in the units of
the Polish Army in the times of the Second Republic were used to grant
short-term credit to military men for their everyday needs.
