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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cwtokenman, post: 81531, member: 2100&quot;]Its tough to make a call on what will go up during an inflationary period as far as from a collectible standpoint, so I will not address that facet.</p><p><br /></p><p>I would suggest token collecting to you. True rarities can be had for cheap (most of the time), even in Unc. Many Civil War and Hard Times tokens fall into the price range you mention. While most cwts are similar in diameter to our present cent, there are a considerable number of them quarter sized and larger as well. You can collect only the large ones if that is the method you choose. While there is not a large following, there are not large populations either. Something like 75-80% of cwt varieties have pops of 20 or less, yet some cwts list for as little as $20 in Unc. The highest amount I have seen paid for a cwt was a little over $20,000, and it was not even a unique token. IMO cwt interest is on the rise, and prices have risen very noticably over the past two years. I used to be able to purchase many tokens at half or even less of the 2002 catalog values. That rarely happens at present, and a few of them have cost me double the 2002 values. But deals can be had on ebay as a relatively high percentage of cwts are incorrectly identified as a common when they are in fact a rarity. This is often due to a popular token catalog that only lists the most common variety for each merchant. Trust no one&#039;s id. Even the few who are usually pretty good have made more than one mistake.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you enjoyed collecting large cents in the past, hard times tokens may appeal to you as they are very similar in size, and somewhat similar in appearance as well. Prices are typically not extremely high here either, although true Uncs are hard to find and often command a hefty premium.</p><p><br /></p><p>Collectors of exonumia are not nearly so caught up in the MS craze as are collectors of regular coinage. Unfortunately, there is a growing shift towards that direction, and token slabs are becoming more common. I suppose if one was looking for an opportunity to capitalize on those willing to pay high prices for a token entombed in plastic, this area would be prime if someone was knowledgable. Cleaning and even damage are of far less concern with tokens as well, likely due to the extreme scarcity of so many examples. Fuld&#039;s book on cwts discusses the effects of cleaning (neglible in the past, but increasing somewhat in importance) and damage - even holing typically only lowers the value by about 15% (I would agree with this in a general sense, although it is greater for the commons). </p><p><br /></p><p>You would not be buying rolls of cwts. I have never seen a group greater than 4 of the same token ever offered as a lot. Knowledge is an extremely valuable asset in this portion of the hobby. New varieties are still waiting to be discovered if you are into that sort of thing. I find discovering a new variety of cwt to be extremely exciting! For example, just today I won an unlisted cwt on ebay. The seller had an unlisted overstrike example in Unc, and my winning bid was only $78. The seller did not know what the original piece was, but I feel it is likely I can identify the original once I get the token in hand, which would greatly increase the value of this token.</p><p><br /></p><p>Well, I see I have been rather prolific with my words, and I imagine you have gotten the drift of my suggestion(s) by now, so I will leave it at this. Good luck with your decision, and enjoy what you collect, as therein lies the greatest value.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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