I went to a meeting at my local coin club and a guy there brought Out his transportation tokens and then passed them around, They Were very cool and from what he was saying very cheap to collect! With many under $1.00!! Would be interested if anybody has heard Of these, Though i only collect Mpc i found these to be very interesting!
I have a very small collection of these (20-30 tops) and I enjoy them but obviously on ebay others don't care much for them. Incidentally there are some 1951 Hawaii bus tokens on ebay right now. I don't know if those are restrikes or not but Hawaii transit tokens are treasured by some collectors and these are totally brand new. I collect the really old ones if I can find them. Most of my collection are California tokens. Some ppl think they will never be worth anything, well that's what ppl have thought about alot of things. I guess we will have to see.
Folks who collect transportation tokens are called vecturists. There is even an American Vecturist Association. Members help each other to get tokens which may not normally be available for sale. http://www.vecturist.com/
They're a lot of fun to collect. There are only a few thousand serious collectors and there are hundreds of issues that are more common than this. That means that with effort you can locate nearly a thousand different tokens for only 15c or a quarter each. Then another 1500 for less than a dollar each. After this they're still not really rare as type until you get to the $5 level and then they get hard to find and you'll need the help of the AVA and traders to find them. Don't get the wrong impression though. Just because a type of token is common and cheap doesn't meabn it can't be quite rare. What I mean is that this is a type or variety collector's paradise. A lot of entities ordered these tokens in lots of 1000 and would simply reorder when supplies ran low. New dies were made with each order and these would always be quite distinct from the earlier version. In many cases the earliest issues can be quite rare because they all got used up by the time they went out of usage yet these sell for the same amount. They can sometimes be common enough but rare in nice condition and these won't cost more either. These make a very attractive and inexpensive collection. If I were starting today I'd recommend that you join the AVA and order 100 different. These are overpriced but it gives you a fast start for only about $25. You'll see what's common because this is what you'll get. Unless you want to spend a lot of money to house and display them I'd suggest using 2 X 2 holders in the plastic pages. You'll get good at rearranging them as the collection grows. Also order at least volume 1 of the Atwood Coffee catalog. This is very cheap for members and almost indispensible. I hate marking up books but writing the grade of your specimen right in the book next to the listing will save a lot of effort down the road. At first just buy cheap tokens and soon you can start trading them. Eventually you'll have to buy them but by then you'll have a feel for the price. The AVA has frequent autions and many members have their collections dispersed through these auctions when they pass on. They're a friendly bunch and you'll probably get lots of offers to buy, sell and trade tokens.
I know a few guys that are really into these. I saw a collection lately of bus tokens from around the world that was REALLY cool. It was too much, but a very nice display.
I heard the term "Horse Car Token" does anybody know what that means?? I assume there,s a horse involved and that there vary Rare!!
You just have to try flea markets. Not sure what they are like by you but there is one dealer at a flea market by me that has a bin full of stuff like that. He usually has a bin of foreign coins, one or two bins of UScoins, one bin of all sorts of tokens and medals and just stuff. Not what you would call a Numismatist, just a typical flea marketer.
Most are pretty scarce and start around $5. Many are depotel tokens which were horsecars dispatched to train stations to carry tourists to the hotel. Most of these were horsecars and most of the tokens start around $50 or so. There are a few different types of transportation tokens including horsecar, depotel, subway, interurban bus, streetcar, train, toll, bridge, taxi etc. Some people include similar items like parking, car wash, and kiddie rides. It's a big world out there and a lot of these items go unloved. Even rarities can go begging because collectors are lacking. A lot of TT collectors specialize in a type or, more commonly, a state or region. But you don't really need to since a very comprehensive collection can be assembled for just a few thousand dollars. It's mostly about the time and effort and if you won't enjoy doing the work you probably won't enjoy collecting them. It's not complicated and you will learn a lot about coins and trains.
I'm working slowly on a collection of tokens, and on the rare occasion, coins and currency with automobiles on them. What can I say, I am a car guy through and through, and even my only non-automovie hobby is now car related. There are a TON of mint medals of early automobiles. I know of over 100. I have 25, I found them in a framed display in my closet. A few years back at an antique shop I saw a TON more but didn't have enough money for them. I did purchase, that day, a Pontiac token that likely dates back to the 1920s. 30s at the latest. It's slow going so far (I have no money to actually BUY anything most of the time) but I have gotten a few. My favorite is, however, a train token. I like trains, I think they are neat but I am not obsessed with them as I am with cars. However, this token actually has my home town on it. It's not the only numismatic item with the name of my hometown clearly spelled out, we had a National Bank that issued notes, but those are well out of my price range as there are 4 on the census only. The token I nabbed on Ebay for six dollars, most of which was shipping. One of these days I will try and take a picture of it, but I don't know how that will come out as it is smaller then a dime. I have some Garden State Parkway tokens that my dad brought back from various trips. The cool thing is that they are bi-metallic. When he brought them back, that was pretty novel as I had only seen one other thing at all like that, a coin from Russia. I have seen a lot more bi-metallic issues since then but those are important to me because of the fact that my dad gave them to me. I lost my dad to cancer in 2002...
While I am sitting here going over my small size notes..I saw this Thread.. in my desk drawer I have a brass looking NYC token with the "Y" punched out of the center of the token. Its says NYC Transportation Authority, good for one fair. Smaller than a dime... Have no idea where it came from...LOL RickieB
Yeah there's at least 5 different NYC tokens that I've seen around and I have one like you're talking about. Often NYC's are posted on ebay. I like the NYC ones that have the green or blue center or hole filled, unusual. Incidentally I just found an error as I was gonna post a pic. In my mind the price of this token just went up. Anyways, this is a Puerto Rican school token which I thought would be rare, maybe not. Anyways, I looked closer at the spelling and it says Porto Rico. Is there a place named Porto Rico? I don't think so but here's a pic. I included a Shenango Valley token b/c I have no idea where that's at. I picked the Shenango because I never heard of it and it has an old western sound.
Were you at the Fort Wayne meeting? We had a speaker on transportation tokens Thursday. (We also have several specialists on MPC's in the club as well.
Yes i was there, Just my second meeting since i just moved here a couple Months ago, i have already met George,Bill and Ken at the first one, I think There is one or two i still need to talk with, Iam thinking of getting a table at The show in March!
