I have some tokens and I'm trying to find out how much they're worth. I know a few of you guys have token books and know a ton about tokens so I thought I would list and see if I get any answers. Also, the pics are out of order, just a heads up. Anyways, I appreciate all responses. The first token is this unusual older token which I guess is from the cowboy days, it only says HorsEshoe on it and 25 cents. The reverse is blank, it's a really nice chocolate copper and I'm hoping it has somekind of unusual history to go with it. This second one is a 1923 school token from Hawaii, and this is an unusual combination in that it says Honolulu Rapid Transit 1923 and on the other side it says To and from school, Half Fare. It's only unusual as you don't normally come across this year let along a school bus token. The last one is a Council Bluffs, Omaha token. The thing about this one that is unusual is the reverse (not pictured) says School Child 5 to 12 years of age. Anyone?
The transportation tokens are common but neither exceedingly so. I don't recognize the uniface token. It appears not to be some sort of stock token so is quite interesting. It could have been used for almost anything and is probably older.
There are about 50 of these that are exceedingly common with 50,000 to as many as 1,000,000 in existence. There are a few hundred which are very common with 20,000 to 50,000. There are another couple hundred common with 5,000 to 20,000. There are many hundreds of tougher issues with 1,000 to 5,000. There are probably a thousand with about 300 to 900. (you might be surprised how few with 900- 1000). Add in another few hundred of the scarcer of 50 to 300. ...and nearly 500 of 1`to 50. Most of the expensive ones only cost $50 or so. You can put together huge sets of these for very little money and they are a lot of fun. Join the AVA and it will save you time and money plus it's fun. Some of these tokens are exceedingly cool like the Pittsburg Railway Token that can be had for a dime.
Yeah I have one of the Pittsburg Railway tokens. I think mine is a 1922 or thereabouts, very cool. I appreciate the tip about the AVA. :kewl:
Fret. Nice tokens. Check this thread Post your Subway Tokens might get some answers from others there as well. Also, Exonumia.com might be useful for your search.
Wow, I appreciate all the responses! I think the Council Bluffs token up there is probably on of my best looking and I think I'll hang onto it for awhile. The horsEshoe token is really old but I have no idea how old it is. I just noticed that it says 25 and not 25 cents. Got me to thinkin' and now I'm off to google. Found some info on shoeing a horse and I guess the total is somewhere around $127.88 per horse. Anyone know if that's about current market price? I'm thinking maybe that HorsEshoe token may have been to shoe horses back in the day since it doesn't say 25 cents. Anyone? http://www.horseshoes.com/advice/raymillr/tctofsna.htm
Since no one provided ids yet, I will do that. The Honolulu (on the island of Oahu) one is HI240-Ac (there are 4 additional varieties). 115,000 (total) were struck in 4 orders from 1924 to 1942. Honolulu is one of 5 cities in Hawaii that issued transit tokens. My 1996 ref. listed the value for this token at $2.00, which was the best of the 6 major varieties for Honolulu. The least valuable Honolulu transit token, for reference purposes, listed at $ .15. In doing a quick flip thru the book to provide a ballpark reference for where the high end of the transit token value range is, the highest value that I saw listed was $150.00. For the Omaha transit, are you sure the reverse has "School Child 5 to 12 years of age"? That wording is not listed. Omaha & Council Bluffs have 6 major and 33 minor varieties. If I were to chose amongst those, I would venture that your token is NE700-Ga, but the reverse should say "One Fare For Child" "5 to 12 Years 1/2". When describing token inscriptions, care needs to be taken, as often varieties exist because of a difference in use of a comma or period, even the thickness, spacing or style of the lettering frequently comes into play if one delves into the subvarieties. If I am correct with the NE700-Ga id, there were 10,000 struck during Oct. 1950, and 10,000 more during March 1951. Value for this token was listed at $ .25. A little history. The Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway Company was incorporated on Dec. 22,1902. Their steetcars were abandoned on March 4, 1955. The name of the system was changed to Omaha Transit Company on June 1, 1955. The Transit Authority of the City of Omaha (Metro Area Transit) took over operations of the system on July 1, 1972. At present (according to the 1996 ref.) this authority provides transportation services with 160 buses.
Yes, there are a great many of them. My Coffee-Ford reference book of transit token id listings (does NOT include sub-varieties, pictures, or histories as those are in other books) has 845 pages.
Nice tokens fretboard. I'm sorry, but I can not tell you anything about your HorsEshoe token. That will probably be a tough one to learn about without a location, and even more so if HorsEshoe was meant to indicate a service rather than a name. Interesting token though, and I don't recall ever having seen one of those before. Good luck with your research.
Good information cwtoken, Here's the pic again so you can see what it says, looks like it says what you asked. I'm always surprised to hear that these tokens cost so little. The 1924 Honolulu token sells on ebay from $2 to $20, depends which day and which seller but I've never come across my 1923 on ebay ever. The Omaha one is really super looking as far as tokens go. I have maybe 20 transportation tokens and they sell for so cheaply I don't think I'll ever sell them. Anyways, thanx a million for the info!! :thumb: Oh I added a couple of pics of the HorsEshoe token just to show how thin it is, it's shown with a quarter. :hail:
You are welcome for the info fretboard. Thanks for posting the additional pics, its nice to verify that the info I provided was correct. While it is true that many of the transits are rather inexpensive (I've bought some lots at under .05 each), there are a fair number of varieties that $100.00+. It is hard to make an estimate, but to give you an idea, I flipped the book open to 4 random pages, and 23% of the listings were at $100.00 or higher.
This is a better transit token. The id is IN960B, issued from the city of Washington, Indiana. Value is listed at $5.00 in my 2007 reference (up from $3.50 in the 1996 edition). Metal is brass, diameter is 19mm. A brief company history: 01OC1894 - The company begins business as a horsecar line. 11JL1896 - The system was converted to electric power. DE1898 - The company was sold at a sheriff's sale, but the name Washington Street Railway was retained. 31OC1935 - Streetcar service was ended.
