CWTokenman: I couldn't find your id, so I could not PM you, but: Help! I just obtained a CWT that I believe has the obverse #55 and reverse #1175. My only reference is Rulau, and he does not list this die marriage. Should I get excited? Or not? Thanks
Hello, You can send cwtokenman a PM by clicking on the link below... http://www.cointalk.org/private.php?do=newpm&u=2100 Be prepared to provide him with good. clear pictures of both sides, as small details can make all the difference in a die pair attribution. Good luck!
Hi Frank, sorry for not answering your question sooner, but just got back in the country. No need to get excited. Rulau is a good general reference for what he covers, except for Civil War tokens, and he states that in the wording at the beginning of the section. Cwts would overwhelm his catalog if he listed them all, so he just lists the most common one for each die and/or merchant, and still devotes about 140 pages to the Civil War section. If you ever have a scarcer issue, you won't find it in that catalog. In the chart where Rulau gives pricing, those two columns of die numbers are showing equivalent die numbers (if they exist), not a die pairing. If a particular die is used in only one system (just patriotic or storecard), only one die number column will have a number. I'm not sure of the reason, but die number assignments for store card dies are four digit numbers, while Patriotic ones can be 1, 2, or 3 digit numbers. I did not look closely at what Rulau has, but I noticed that if a die was shown in the storecard section, he did not show it in the patriotic section. That is one reason why so many numbers are skipped. You did identify a possible (and likely the correct) die pairing from the die photos in Rulau's book, its just that they were shown in two different systems. Your token is a patriotic, so that is the system you need to work in. The #55 is OK. Storecard die #1175 is the same as patriotic die 162. For patriotics, die 55 was only paired with 162, and is a common (R1) token. Die 162 was paired with dies 55 & 56. The 56/162 token is much scarcer at an R8 rarity rating. To properly id cwts, you will need the (2) Fuld hardback books (don't buy the black softback ones), or I will be glad to assist you whenever needed.
