I had no idea what it was—and although I always read now that it’s British—my father’s guess when I asked him then was that it might be an American token from the local U.S. Navy “Post Exchange.” (A type of store that serves military personnel.)
One of the reasons Pop thought this might be so was because In the U.S. military there is a sometimes distinction between Army and Air Force “Base Exchanges”, and Navy” Post Exchanges,” and the American military community in and around Napoli was served by Navy facilities.
The similarity of this piece to an American 5-cent nickel in diameter (21.1 vs. 21.2mm) and weight (4.80 vs. 5.00 grams) made Pop’s guess more plausible. But alas, other “P.E” tokens are not always so compatible with the American 5-cent coin.
Can anyone here please say more about these tokens—as in where they come from or what they did?
v.
