1841 HT Tokens - where to sell and value?...

Hi
Here are two 1841 Daniel Webster tokens. As far as I can tell, the first is classified as HT-16 and the second as HT-18 per PCGS as they have different reverses.

I would be interested in how you would grade each and the potential value if slabbed and at auction, but more importantly, which specific auction house to use. Generally, I lean on Great Collections, but they don't seem to do much business at all in tokens.

Many thanks!!!

 

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Don't waste your money on getting either one slabbed because they will come back as "cleaned." The first one is badly scratched. It looks like someone was thinking about crossing off the "NOT" over the cent and lost interest. They did that back on the day to try to pass the piece as a cent, not a token. It's unusual to see that on this variety, however. The usual piece looked like this, closer to the large cent design.



This one would grade, but it's not worth it because it would only get an EF.



The common variety Hard Times Tokens really have to be Choice Mint State to be worth the grading fee. Even so, I was able to buy this for about $350.

 

As an avid token collector, I've found that the best place to buy and sell tokens is eBay.

 

Only if you are very well educated, and if you are prepared to be out bid buy one cent because of sniping. I HATE eBay. Life is too short to put up with it.

 

Unfortunately 19 times out of 20, if someone has a rare token for sale that I want, it's on eBay. Especially because most of the tokens I look for are sold by antique dealers, rare token dealers that only use eBay and heirs of token collections that already have eBay accounts and they don't know where else to sell them.

 

Nice tokens. I’d probably look at one of the coin auction houses.

 

Thank you @johnmilton, @Mr. Numismatist and @Collecting Nut. I really appreciate the guidance. I've noticed that prior to posting my coins, they look great, then under magnification, not so much. I didn't see the scratches in this one - probably because I didn't want to!

 

Magnifying will show all sorts of little unnoticeable things, especially on coins. A 10X is all one needs for coins.

 

That is a common mistake. I cannot tell you how many times that I fell in lust with a coin in a dealers cabinet only to discover later that the coin I purchased had a terrible flaw that my lustful gaze overlooked. One of the handiest pieces of advice I ever got was on this forum to correct that problem. Before I get lost in the beauty of a particular coin now, I will study it upside down. It helps to tone down the WOW factor just enough to turn a rash purchase into a better informed one.