I introduced myself as a sister to a brother coin collector. I got some advice to maybe add civil war tokens to this US coin enthusiast's collection. I liked the idea, but before I plop down my money ($100-$200), I like to research the coins I buy for him. I read about the Fuld ranking. Which guide or website(s) should I look to help me understand the rating of these toekns?
There are a number of us CWT collectors here at Coin Talk. I'd suggest bookmarking the CWT Society site... http://cwtsociety.com It is a good source for books on the subject, in addition membership will bring you their quarterly publication.
The Fuld Guide is the standard for Store Cards and Patriotics. The Store Card 3rd Edition is out now, edited by Jon Ostendorf who is a great numismatist and a great guy. It is *loaded* with full color pictures, guides, and information. I use it daily. I also own the 2nd Edition, which is available used - you may find a new one, they are still around. Pictures are in black and white, and it is not as complete as the 3rd. The Patriotic is in its 5th Edition. It's economical enough - just get the 5th. As for what to collect - what do you like? You can collect by city or state, by theme of image, by die sinker, by type of issuer. The world is the limit. For what it's worth, as a start, the Fuld Store Card numbering system is like so: XX-XXX-XX-XX State - City Code - Issuer - Die Pairing Example: OH-200A-1a The Patriotics are much simpler: XXX/XXX Obverse Die / Reverse Die Example: 222/325 CWTs have their own rarity scale, so read up on that. You will also come across a subset of CWTs, the sutler token. These were military issues used by the sutlers in individual regiments. These are quite rare and quite pricey. Schenkman wrote the guide on that, and the 2nd Edition is edited by Rick Irons, another great CWT numismatist. I would spend the first $100 +/- on a 3rd Edition Fuld for Store Cards. It has just about everything you want to know about the topic.
Just a thought, but instead of buying him coins, have you considered quality educational/reference material? A coin, or token in this case, is certainly a wonderful gift for someone interested in them, but the right book (for example) could be the gift that keeps on giving, for both you and your brother.
