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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cwtokenman, post: 1912163, member: 2100&quot;]I would say that an essential book would be Kanzinger&#039;s &quot;The Civil War Token Collector&#039;s Guide&quot;. While its listed values are now out of date (Copyright 2001), they are still good for a low ballpark number. I haven&#039;t picked up Bower&#039;s book yet, so if there are values there, it is likely a better source regarding prices. Kanzinger also lists many types of themes (nearly 60 general and over 400 specific), and the tokens related to those themes. So if you only, say, wanted to collect store cards advertising boots and shoes, Kanzinger&#039;s lists the 75 cwts related to that topic. Rarities are also listed for each token, some of which have been updated from Fuld&#039;s 2nd edition, however, Kanzinger&#039;s can not be used to determine an id number as other references are needed for that. There is additional good information also. </p><p><br /></p><p>To reply to silverdrachm&#039;s questions, most cwt reference books will list the rarity number along with the id number. Those are generally consistent, but sometimes they will be updated if the population is known to be incorrect. Unless you have found an unlisted variety (I have about 2 dozen), rarity rating are easily found. Cwt references also typically show a chart for what the various rarity numbers indicate. These numbers range from R1 (over 5000 known) to R10 (1 known). If I recall correctly, somewhere near 70% of cwt varieties have populations of 20 or less known. </p><p><br /></p><p>The id numbers, such as the one you mentioned (NY-630BO) is for a store card, and provides merchant and location information regarding the issuer. Patriotic cwts use a different type of numbering system, designated by two numbers representing the two die id numbers used to make the token, plus a lower case letter to designate the metal. For the store card series, the first two Upper case letters indicate the state where the merchant was located. The numbers likewise designate the city, in this case 630 indicates New York City. The following upper case letter(s) designate the merchant. In general, merchants within a city are put in alphabetical order, then assigned a letter(s), starting with &quot;A&quot;, and going down the list. In this case, BO indicates EDWD SCHULTZE&#039;S. To be a complete id number, there needs to be another number, a lower case letter, and sometimes yet another number. The number following the merchant id letters are designating the dies used to make that particular token. This time the known dies used by that merchant are arranged numerically, with 1 being assigned to the first die, 2 to the 2nd, and so on. The following lower case letter is the metal designation, same as used in the Patriotic numbering system. The final number, when it is used, is to designate varieties, such as in planchet size, when the same dies are used on multiple planchet sizes.</p><p><br /></p><p>I hope you will find this post useful, and feel free to ask if you have any additional questions.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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