ALGERIA: French Colony, brass brothel token (4.60g), ND, Lec-191, 29mm, facing head of cat, * AU CHAT NOIR * IMPASSE RENE CAILLE 2 ALGER // * MAISON JEANNE, 2.R. RENE-CAILLE BLIND ALLEY ALGIERS, VF-EF, R, ex Gregory J. Cole Collection. Prostitution was legal in French Algeria, but heavily regulated. An 1830 decree required sex workers to be registered with the Police Commissioner and examined twice every month, and further restricted their travel outside of the city. In 1946, the morality police recorded 46 brothels, 79 hotels, 600 furnished apartments, and a hundred clandestine houses used for prostitution in Algiers alone. Most examples of the Chat Noir tokens were issued by Maison Jouany, with Maison Jeanne being rarer.
Estimate: USD 100 - 150