Colonial Coin Market or Alternative Coins in American

Do you guys know of a good site or publication to seek out price ranges for coins used in colonial america? I think these are pretty cool. I dont mind paying a little too much, but I want to be in the ballpark.

Do you know of any numismatics that involve coinage in pre-United States that isnt totally dead or tends to be a little more popular than the usual colonial interests?

Also, any tokens might be of secondary interest.

By the way, isnt there likely more fakes in this area? Id assume that the technology back then might make the coins easier to duplicate. But Im guessing that the aging process might lend a little help in determining authenticity.

 

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David Harper's "North American Coins and Prices" contains a price guide for colonial coinage. I'm sure that there are more thorough and accurate sources, but that's the only one that I now about. Might be a good place to start.

 

Heritage

 

The problem with trying to come up with a price guide for colonials is that they are very frequently collected by variety and it is the variety market that tends to set a lot of the prices. Then there is the problem of grading. Colonials vary wildly in strike quality, planchet quality, and design even within the same series. You can have several specimens from the same series that all "grade" VF-20 but the prices may be an order of magnitude different.

Are there fakes? Sure contemporary fakes an modern ones. The contemporary's tend to get cataloged and collected right along with the genuine coins. (and in most cases are worth more) Most modern fakes tend to be pretty crude and are easily identified. And as for using modern methods to make a GOOD copy, modern equipment tends to make coins that LOOK like they were made on modern equipment. Remember every colonial coin is unique. Copies run off on a modern press will all tend to look alike. And if they are modeled after a real coin the dies will reproduce the same bagmarks etc on all the new copies. And since the colonials have been extensively studied any piece that doesn't match a known variety is going to set off alarm bells. But colonials are scarce enough compared to other coins that even a modest group showing up will cause comment. I actually think you are fairly safe as far as fakes go on colonials other than the crude modern pieces.