I've recently developed an interest in historical exonumia pertaining to my hometown of Benicia, CA. Exhaustive research tells me at least several dozen known merchant, military tokens and locally produced commemorative items exist. Many are quite elusive but I've had some limited success on Ebay. For those that have specific exomunismatic (is that even a word?) interests, where are you finding what you're looking for?
What I do find, which hasn't been much, is off Ebay. The correct term is Exonumia. British call it Paranumismatica.
My Florida LCS gets things like that with old accumulations of silver coins. He throws them in a box to be picked by anyone interested. About $2/handful. I let him see any foreign silver but he always says just keep it with the handful.
eBay is the most likely place to find what you want. If you want rare tokens you'll need either lots of luck or lots of patience. Coin shops and coin shows are sometimes successful. Especially if the shop or show is in the area your target token(s) were originally used. Buying duplicates from someone who collects the same kinds of tokens as you is a great way of finding what you want, but those connections can be difficult to make. Also local antique shops. Some of the greatest finds come from those.
Don't waste your time on Ebay. It might randomly come up occasionally, but you can't count on it. For this sort of hyper-local stuff, you need to go to the source. Go to local coin shows. Talk to old-timers. Visit the actual places and ask if they have any.
Local coin shows is a great suggestion, will do! Visiting actual places is another matter, I'd love to and am right in town, but most of these places are either no longer in existence or their items have become long since obsolete.
Sometimes eBay is the only place to get certain tokens. Tokens often get distributed all across the country and there might not be any of the tokens you're looking for anywhere near their place of origin. Sometimes entire hoards of a certain token is bought by one person in a distant state.
I got the top one yesterday and the Indian the day before that, buying tokens for me is my new addiction and I've been hooked for years!
I found some esoteric local tokens back in my detecting days. Of course if you were to look up Brunswick, Georgia on Token Catalog, most of the listings you see would be elongated coins produced by this guy. (You've got one on the way to you in the mail, BTW, @vintagemintage.) Also- I have no idea if "exonumismatic" is a real word or not, but if not, it should be. I've used it myself a time or two.
I collect the more conventional exonumia with big emphasis on presidential politics. That includes politically themed Hard Times, Civil War and 19th century pieces listed in DeWit. I got very interested in the artwork of Jon Marr, who was a German immigrant die sinker from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when I was a dealer. I bought a lot of pieces from the late Steve Tannenbaum, who was an outstanding dealer. I can’t help much with the local tokens which are not listed with the Civil War and Hard Times pieces. There is a large soft cover catalog buy Russel Rulau which covers many 19th century merchant tokens. Catalogs for the 20th century are hit and miss. I found one for my home state, Delaware, but the tokens are hard to find. They often rare, demand is low which depresses prices, and dealers don’t bother with them as a result.
This is exactly what I'm finding. I've seen some absolutely fantastic token collections and wonder how it was possible to assemble such selection and quality given the market obscurity, especially for me with the limited focus I have now.
Here are a couple of Jon Marr Civil War tokens. Blaz Beer. I have seen ads for this company, but have not seen the product offered anywhere. Since I very rarely drink been, I am not an active searcher. The character on the obverse is King Gambrinus, the mythical inventor of beer. Mossin & (Jon) Marr, engravers. This was his business token he made for his firm. Collectors have named the reverse "The Naked Amazon." It was based on the painting "Liberty Leading the People" shown below. This was inspired by the failed revolutions in Europe which results in many immigrants coming to America.
I have this one, may be an older one but I don't keep track as it has tons, and I mean tons of tokens!
I have found some exonumia on eBay, some others I find in other markets. It helps to have a focus on "LCCS." "LCCS" is my term for "Less-Commonly Collected Stuff." If you collect what everyone else is looking for, it likely makes finding those things in the market a bit harder. If what you're looking for is U.S. exonumia, then coin shows (big or small), are a very good place to search. If I was into US exonumia, I'd chat up those dealers who specialize in it. You can also find those dealers online. Let 'em know what you're looking for. My exonumia focus is items that were made by or for the Korean Mint or Bank of Korea. I like their bronze medals and other items made for the celebration of Bank or Mint events or anniversaries. I also like original mint bags. I can find these on ebay (like both of the medals in the bottom left photo) on rare occasion. However, it is in the Korean numismatic market where you have to go to find rarer items, like this coin bank made in commemoration of the completion of the new mint in the town of Gyeongsan in 1975 (top left). EBay search has become rather odd nowadays (they changed it somehow), but I discovered that I could find things by searching using different search terms than the ones I normally used. That's how I came upon this 10-Won coin mint bag from 1966 (right). This is the only mint bag (with or without coins) that I have ever seen from the first year that these coins were issued. It even has a provenance, as the guy who sold it to me told me he personally found it in a locker on a US Army base that year.
