They were keen to prevent the needy spending the money they have received on ‘undesirable’ things such as strong alcohol. That’s why instead of real money, they handed out so-called alms tokens. These were simple coins that poor people could exchange for bread or peat, for example. Other people who were paid in tokens rather than real money were the farmers working on peat colonies in the Netherlands. They were also used on colonial plantations to pay the usually enslaved workers, forcing them to buy goods in the shop on their own plantation, often at inflated prices. This enabled plantation owners to make even more money out of their workers.
Getting started with the collection: