Hey all, My stepfather had put a large book together consisting of 377 prohibition era Connecticut town restaurant/bar tokens, all in alphabetical order by town and city. The book also has newspaper articles referencing certain taverns from that era. It is quite nice and I am trying to sell it but have zero clue what these tokens may be worth. I assume based on what I see on e bay from prohibition era tokens they typically sell anywhere between 1 dollar up to 35 dollars but have seen some tokens sell for much higher ...one (not from CT) sold for 300 on e bay (it was the bar Al Capone hung out at...which makes sense I suppose). These tokens are in pristine shape. I attached a few photos here and the thickness of the book itself. All pages are full of tokens. I suppose my question is would anyone be able to guesstimate the highest price or price range one should ask for this book consisting of 377 vintage CT bar/tavern tokens? I am not sure if there may be a few gems in here is all or if that is such a thing when it comes to bar tokens. Is there something I should look out for regarding higher quality tokens that may be worth more? I assume the ones from the major cities may be worth more than the smaller towns? My assumption was anywhere between 5 and 25 dollars each based on condition? I realize this is a lot of information....Any info is appreciated.
I'm not really sure but that seems to be an impressive collection. Exonumia is fun and I do love collecting it but nowhere near my field of expertise. Maybe @Circus can help point you to the right direction.
My suggestion is to find a reputable coin auction house, that deals in tokens. In the general east coast area,close to the area. I don't have any knowledge of New England tokens. The problem in today's market People that were interested in Merchant tokens. are getting fewer and fewer. Ebay prices aren't a good indicator due to the sellers mostly don't have a clue as to real value of the piece and buyers generally over pay. Get them appraised or at least find out if there are any known outstanding items. Q David Bowers at Stacks auction house's Wolfeboro NH office www.stacks .com email qdbarchive@metrocast.net Heritage Auction HA.com They have a permanent Auction archive at HA.com There is at least one token book New England merchant tokens out there. Howard Knickerbocker wrote it. e-mail knic.com tokens. Others on this forum should be able to suggest some other auction houses or dealers that can give info. I haven't had any dealings with any of the above. I don't do coins so I'm out of the loop on the people that are in that end of the trade. I have bought albums with a couple hundred tokens, Mardis Gras throws ect. most times they are at or below wholesale prices. Since there are limited buyers for them. Also I have bought quite a few bulk bags with tokens/medals with high dollar prices on them. With more than 30 items in them For $20.00/$30.00 This isn't to scare you just to give you a sense of the market reality that is the current conditions. As with coins prices for a lot of items are neither increasing nor realizing much growth. I'm in the SE Mich. are, I don't what other areas of the U.S. are doing. This book gives the basics about tokens collecting etc. Consider this an answer to your PM
Going through the images, From what I can see The tokens aren't "prohibition era Connecticut town restaurant/bar tokens" They are merchant tokens from the 1920's up thru the 1950's, There are duplicate ones, and more modern ones made out of Plastic. You can look up them in the token catalog. www.tokencatalog.com You can also try Numista. The price you will receive if sold as a unit will be lower if there are numerous duplicates. Since the more duplicates indicate that there are more that can be out there. secondly you will have to find the motivated buyer that is interested and wants them.
Your guesstimate on prices is way off. Since you seem to want to sell all at once you have two options. Add the collection to an estate auction in that state. The auctioneer may sell them by the page and also allow bids for the entire collection. He will charge you roughly 35 - 50% depending on the sales price. You can list them individually on ebay once then all the remainders as one lot. You will be out of them in two weeks that way. There is no published guide to Connecticut tokens. That usually indicates that there are few people who specialize in them. For comparison there were ten collectors of South Dakota and they managed to compile a catalog. A third option is an ad in Numismatic News. Say that you will send one token from collection for each 90% silver quarter that you get. Good Luck.
Hi Lyricfive I have purchased several pieces from you in the past. I just published the first catalog of Connecticut Trade Tokens. If you send me scans of the pages I can tell you what they are approximately worth. I hope to hear from you. Manuel A. Ayala [email redacted by moderator- use private messsaging]
New member Manuel AYALA advises that he has just released a Connecticut token catalog so he may be able to help you. good luck.