Civil war. Trade tokens ect... anybody collect them? I often look at them but not sure how to start. Worried about fakes ect.. don't know values.... Just wondering...
I saw a member post about this. Looks like a good group to join if you're interested in civil war tokens. http://www.cwtsociety.com/#:~:text=Founded in 1967, the Civil,of Civil War token collecting.
Tokens are great to collect. I have a number of them. I just posted about 8 Masonic Tokens. They are rich in history. Some are cheap and others are very expensive.
I've been collecting tokens for 15+ years and specifically trade tokens for about 18 months.Trade tokens are definitely "their own animal" with a lot of variables that factor into prices. For example, different states have different levels of popularity. Western states seem to be the most popular. Different types of tokens have different levels of popularity ie saloon tokens, or mining tokens will usually be way more popular than confectionery tokens. So a saloon token from a mining town in Colorado will likely be worth a lot more then a confectionery token from Atlanta, Geogia. Then there's the towns themselves. A town with a low number of businesses that issued tokens is better than a town with many. Town names may also play a part. I like towns with weird names like Ashepoo S.C. And of course the numbers of pieces estimated to exist plays a big part. Grading is not as psycho with trade tokens as it is with coins. I've seen images of trade tokens that were so scuzzy looking most coin collectors would, at first, be tempted to throw them in the garbage. And yet they sold on ebay for $2,000. This goes back to pieces that exist. Scuzzy or not, if only two pieces exist and you really want that town and merchant, your options are pretty limited. These are but a few things that affect values of trade tokens. For prices you can always check TokenCatalog.com But with me, in most cases, pricing has always been a "flying by the seat of your pants" episode. There is also the National Token Collectors Association. Membership is $18 for the digital version of Talkin' Tokens--the association's journal. There is a column in TT called On The Net by Kern Wilson. Every month he goes over a sample of tokens sold on ebay usually at $300 and up. He makes short comments about the tokens and sale prices. You can learn an aweful lot about merchant tokens just reading that column. And he's been at for five years and it's all archived and available to members. http://tokencollectors.org/ Good luck.
