What do want in a reference book?

I'm working on a reference book for strawberry and other picker tokens and I want some input on what features or information you would want in a reference book.

Here are some examples:

• Is a written description of a token's design and lettering helpful, or are pictures sufficient?

• Do you want to know if the token's orientation is medal or coin alignment?

• Should the weight, diameter, composition, reference numbers, date range and rarity be in fine print or in a more prominent position and obvious? If so, which ones or all?

• Does the in-depth information and history belong at the beginning of each town/state's section, or should there only be a summary at the beginning of each section and the more in-depth information somewhere else?

• Are prices, estimated rarity and date ranges necessary even though the figures given may not be entirely accurate?

• Should each state's section have its own unique color band or tab similar to the Red Book?

If you have any other suggestions or ideas please don't hesitate to share them. Thank you for your help!

 

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Did you have all of the tokens professionally photographed? I think that a large high quality photo of every token would be very helpful, along with a brief description of the different design elements.
I am a person who loves history, so I think that it would be very nice to have a brief backstory for each of the different companies before each section.
I love the idea of each state having its own color, this would help out a lot when trying to quickly find a specific token.
Also another thing, please don't make the book spiral bound, the pages just tear and get stuck so easily.
I love that you are producing a book! I cant wait to purchase a signed copy!

 

The most important thing to me is info about the issuer and town at the beginning. The more interesting the token or town sounds to me the more likely I'll bid on it. I like rarity ratings even if they are estimates. I don't find values to be very useful.

 

No I have not. I plan to eventually, but the problem is that I don't even own half of the tokens for my book! This is a very unexplored field which is one reason I like it so much, but some times it can be overwhelming. As far as I know there are no experts in this field and no complete guide books (which is why I'm making one). This project will take a long time for many reasons:

1. I have to find and compile information on all the tokens and issuers
2. I need to acquire each token to weigh, measure and photograph it
3. Some of these tokens are very rare

To give you an example of what I mean by rare, try to find even a picture of the Stotts City, MO 1 crate token. It looks something like this:






I'll keep in mind the spiral bound issue. Thanks for your input.

 

I think that all relative info should be included including the rotation. You have me on the look out for strawberry tokens as of late.

 

I want Fact. Not supposition. Can't prove it? Don't write it.

 

I understand where you're coming from, but I think there is a place for theory's. For example take a look at this token:




Notice the counter-stamp "R" on the obverse? Who stamped it and why? The answer, I don't know. And all the resources I've found just state that it is there, but no one even questions why it's there. I have theory's about why it's there and I plan to include them in my work. But I don't want to mislead or give false information so if I just don't know, I'll be sure to state it is just my theory and not fact.

 

Pictures help to reenforce the words. One needs a photo to help understand what’s written.
The metal composition, size and weight should be included.
Any and all references are a good addition.

 

Thanks to all that have commented so far. I need more members to chime in!

@lordmarcovan
@johnmilton
@dwhiz
@ZoidMeister
@Publius2
@ldhair
@ToughCOINS
@geekpryde
@expat
@Kevin Mader

 

Basically I'm looking for people's opinions about what makes a guide book user friendly and what kind of information they would want included.

 

@Mr. Numismatist
Do you plan on including the different cardboard tokens as well, or is your book just for the metal ones?

Example:

 

Good question. I have not yet decided if I should or not. Perhaps the cardboard tickets/tokens should have their own book? I was hoping to make my book slightly larger than the Red Book. But if I included cardboard tickets it would be a much larger and expensive book. For instance, Missouri has well over 700 different tickets alone! And then there's Delaware, Maryland, Alabama and other state's tickets as well.
I may add a few if the same issuer also made metal tokens.

 

@Mr.Q
@GDJMSP
@green18
@Kentucky
@-jeffB
@paddyman98
@Spark1951
@Heavymetal
@alurid
@lardan

 

Simple, yet easily overlooked - A simple and easy to use ToC and Index.

Also, just to have the information presented in a way thats easy to navigate. Nothing's worse than a book with good information in it but it takes half a century to find what you're looking for.

 

Medal turn, coin turn is most important to include.... ...especially if examples include both. Pictures are a must. Origins (and reasons for) the design must be laid out in detail.

 

Edge information: smooth, reeded, lettered, etc.

 

Reliable pricing data.