Hi guys! New member here! I have this Jacob Strahle Token that im looking to see how much its worth. Like I said,First time poster, sorry if the attachments dont work Thanks
Welcome to the neighborhood! I've been playing pool for 54 years, and I do have a few pool & billiard-related tokens (Good For) and medals in my collections. I even have some from a pool room in Oregon. The market for these tokens is not real strong, and you can obtain most for about $5. Chris
thanks for the input,i have seen other examples of this saloon token and was listed at a much higher value,I can add that this is from 1880s if any other token collectors may know more that would be great. steve
All of the ones I have were purchased about 5 years ago, and the most expensive one was a billiard token from France dating to 1929 for $7.50. I guess I should have qualified my earlier statement. Sorry! Chris
thanks again, I have no problem with any info i get from anyone,its great to share .I have had this token for 30 years and Im just now investigating it. I found it underneath the city of old Sacramento when I could fit between the grates.
Welcome regnartoken! Did you find any other tokens? I think your token is worth quite a bit more depending on who you sell it to. You can check out this database and it may be in there even tho the db only says Nevada tokens there are alot more than Nevada. My guess is your token is worth $50 to $200 and maybe a bit more. Saloon tokens are really "hot" right now so I suggest you look for a few minutes and run it on ebay and see what comes up!! Great find! http://www.holabirdamericana.com/HKA_Online_Token_Cat/NV_tokens.html
Thanks for the tip..fretboard, I will give it a look. I did find other coins/and a mystery token from Australia dated 1891 complete with a kangaroo, It was one of the first time i figured out that old Sacramento was built on top of even an older Sacramento.
Yeah I've heard of other ppl finding coins and what not back in the day. Part of the attraction to Sacramento is old town and even downtown itself was built on top of another used to be. Alot of great history underneath it all for sure!!
I took a look at the Kagin/Holabird store, and I think their tokens are largely overpriced. Just because they list high BIN's doesn't mean that they sell for those prices. I know dealers in other numismatic areas that do the same thing. Yes, eventually they get offers, but usually no where near the original asking prices. If you don't believe me, list your Strahle token on eBay for $200 and see if you get any takers. Chris
Just a gut feeling, I would think that this token would easily be worth more than $50. Brunswick-Balke tokens typically go for $50, and Jacob Strahle is a much scarcer issuer. The "Saloon" attribute just makes it even better. The dinner bell has rung, but I will do some checking in a bit to see if I find a listing.
Cwtokenman is a master. Much respected authority on tokens and the like. So good to see you old fellow....:smile
thank you to everybody for the good tips and advice,it really helped out,and opened my eyes to a new world of tokens and coins .there is so much to learn, other than if it just old.I think I have a new hobby besides just digging things up. steve
Thanks for the compliment Green. Its good to be seen. I don't know about being a master, but I am certainly an avid collector. I recently picked up my saloon token reference, and this is the first that I have used it. I was a little disappointed in that there were not individual listings for the tokens. The author seems to provide much detail on a few select tokens, but provides little specific info on the rest. The most info that I can relate to the OP's token is that Grass Valley is listed under mining towns, and there are 12 known saloon tokens, but it does not say if they are all from the Capital Saloon. To provide a point of reference, there are 110 mining towns listed with known saloon tokens, with known token populations between 1 (43 of the towns) and 74 (Sacramento). The 74 pop. was much higher than the others, with 25 known (Jackson) being the second highest pop. For all types of California towns, San Francisco has the highest known population of saloon tokens with 168. A fair amount of general saloon history was also provided, and I was a bit surprised to learn how high the ratio of saloons to other businesses was. In 1876, in the state of Nevada, fully 15% of all businesses were saloons. 70% of all American saloon tokens recorded are from 10 western states. Most saloon tokens are post 1900. Among the pages of history (from "Collecting Guide to the Pioneer Minor Coinage of American Saloons, by Fred N. Holabird) was a bit more info regarding the OP's token. Many of the pre-1900 saloons advertised their saloons through the use of billiard manufacturers, who provided tokens with the merchants names on the obverse and the billiard manufacturer on the reverse, usually with a depiction of a pool table. Most of the pool and billiard tables were manufactured in Chicago. Die sinkers there made tokens for many of the table manufacturers, and some of these were thought to have had an office in San Francisco to help facilitate the western saloon and pool table/billiard business. The most prolific of these table manufacturers who helped in the issuance of tokens was J.M. Brunswick, Balke (& Collender) who were makers of the famous Monarch billiard table. Others include Jacob Strahle, Charles Pick of Chicago, and August Jungblot. Since many tokens are not dated, the following is a rough guide to dating the pictorial saloon tokens: Brunswick & Co. circa 1880 Brunswick, Balke & Co. circa 1880-1884 Brunswick, Balke, Collender circa 1884-1910 Jacob Strahle circa 1883-1891 August Jungblut circa 1875-1891 Chas. Pick circa 1875-1890 My 1976 "California Tokens" by Charles V. Kappen lists your token as Grass Valley (Nevada Co.) id number 5, and assigned a value at $30.00 (the highest value for any of the listed 67 Grass Valley tokens), which I feel substantiates my opinion that its current value would be in excess of $50 today.
