My dad gave me two Civil War era tokens when I was a kid. Although I have been a coin collector for about 25 years, I know nothing about tokens. I recently sent them to NGC for grading / encapsulation / identification. I know tokens are given an identification number of sorts, but I don't have a book to see what they mean. Would you tell me what you know about these two coins? 1- HJ Bang Restaurant, F-630D-1A, (1861-1865) New York, NY. This graded AU 55 BN. 2- Constitution Forever. 1861-650 Civil War Token, F-242/374 a. XF Details - Rim damage. Thanks for whatever you know!
George and Melvin FUld developed the numbering system and rarity scale for Civil War Tokens. These "Fuld Numbers" (F-___/____) refer to the die, pairing, and composition of your tokens. Any reference written by them, there are a few different ones, would be a good place to start. Some good info can also be found here: http://www.civilwartokens.com/
NGC has a hard time following Fuld's identification system. Typically no one (except for NGC) includes the "F-" as part of a cwt id. They forgot to include the state's initials as part of the id number, and the last letter(s) should always be lower case for the metal identifier. The town designator "630" (as are most town id numbers) is used in multiple states, so the state initials are important. NGC's inability to follow Fuld's simple system has been a complaint of mine ever since they started encapsulating tokens. Sorry for the rant. The correct id number for your Bang token should be NY630D-1a. The "D" is the merchant designator. The "1" designates the first (and only in this case) die pairing for this merchant. The "a" is the metal designator (for copper). This token has an R2 rarity rating (common), which means that there are between 2000 to 5000 of these known. This same token was also struck in brass and white metal, both scarcer issues. Value in Kanzinger's 2002 book would be about $20. CWTs with a merchant's name is known as a Civil War Storecard. Your other token is known as a Patriotic Civil War token. Did NGC really display a lower case "a" in their id? That would be the first correct format metal designator that I have heard of. Hopefully they finally figured it out. Token 242/374a is also an R2 rarity token. Kanzinger values that one at $18. Don't worry too much about the rim damage unless it is severe as problems with cwts are not near the concern as with regular coinage, and the rim damage likely would not affect value any, if at all. These dies have been ascribed to Emil Siegel, whose shop was at 177 William St. New York City, NY. Siegel was one of the most prolific of cwt token producers, and enjoyed a wide area of circulation. His work displays a high level of skill in his craft.
