Worth Collection Old Tokens?

I see a lot of old tokens are my coin shop but not sure if they would be worth collecting or just saving for the future.

 

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Tokens are kind of funny when it comes to value. You can have one of which there are 5 to 10 pieces known and it'll be worth under $20. I can't think of such an extreme rarity/value ratio for any coin.

The problem is that many tokens have very local appeal, which means a small pool of collectors. Also they can sometimes be difficult to research and anonymous tokens are usually cheap, even if there are no references to a second example.

If you plan on collecting them, do so for the love of the hobby. I don't think it makes a wise investment when buying from a retail shop. Personally I don't play the token game.

 

Collect what you like for the enjoyment of collecting and learning.
I see you are in Canada - there were hundreds of token issues in Canada before the first official coinage was released in 1858.
Charlton has a catalog just for tokens.
You can learn a lot about Canadian history through the collecting of the tokens.

 

Collect them for the fun, but collecting them for future investment is about as useful as saving used matchbook covers for profit.

Chris

 

I agree with the others here.

I don't have many tokens, but I have some cool ones like an old Washington State Tax Commision Sales Tax Token. Neat little piece of history, but worth poop.

 

they got any of these???

 

I agree with the above posts. I collect tokens but only certain ones. If they relate to a place I am familiar with or a certain event in time I am interested in then I will add them to my collection. Some tokens are really nice and while the majority of them sell for under $100, popular ones can go into the $1,000s. It all depends on demand. You should collect them because you want to collect them but they have very little investor potential. You will more than likely lose money buying them.

 

here is one you can use too

 

As per the OP's question, it really depends on the variety. Many HT, CWT, Merchant, Sutler, and some Patriotics have enormous collector value and are escalating. I can remember when CWTs were quite inexpensive -- sometimes as little as $2 per dozen twenty years ago. Can't say they're worth so little anymore.

 

I agree with the others Tristen. Some tokens do have a lot of value, but most are just fun to collect because of their history, artistic qualities, or what they represent. You can find many tokens that appeal to you for any number of reasons and pick them up very cheaply.

Bruce

 

I love old tokens. It's a lot of fun just looking up the history of each one.

CheetahCats post above, makes an important point. There are areas of token collecting that attract many collectors and with that come much higher prices.

 

There are different types of tokens. Canada had bank tokens:






There are also trade tokens:



Arcade tokens:




Transit tokens:

 

Indeed, the vast majority of Transportation Tokens are frequently encountered, prolific, and enjoy scant collector demand; most especially those struck in the 20th century.

However, there are those which predate the 20th century, during the dawn of the days of electric trollies and railroads, and omnibuses and wooden footbridges prior, that are sought by token collectors.

Here are a few which are not common, have maintained and/or increased in collector value, and enjoy demand.









And despite its beat-up appearance, the one below is extremely rare. At the time I obtained it, it was a coup just to actually find one after searching for a long time.




As an aside, the Atwood-Coffee Catalogs are the most comprehensive books available that catalog transport tokens throughtout the U.S. and Canada. They are available through the American Vecturist Association (AVA)

 

Here are mine Just a few, but they have local history.

 

Thanks for sharing Walrus.

Your Spokane United Railways token is either catalog number WA840-F or, if magnetic, WA840-H.

The WA840-F was struck in White Metal, and was in use no later than 1932.
Meanwhile, the WA840-H was struck in steel, and according to die-sinker Meyer & Wenthe's records, dates to 1944.

 

Wow thanks for the info

Just tried putting a magnet to it and it's not magnetic. Neat.

 

The popularity of Civil War Patriotic Tokens have also gained headway in recent years. Their value has appreciated, and to give a perspective on their rarity, the most common specimens of Patriotics are still most times rarer than the 1909-S VDB!.

Here are a few Civil War Patriotics. Having been ordered by merchants for issuance in commerce at the face-value of one-cent, their obverses and reverses were struck using stock-dies. Therefore, they are identified by two combinations of die-number.

 

Those are really cool Cheetah!

Especially the first one regarding the flag. That's something I'd love to have.

 

Here are a few more, this time Hard Times tokens.

These were struck during the 1830s and early 1840s. As with the Civil War Tokens and Patriotics, there was a shortage of circulating US coinage at the time. Merchants made up for these shortages by having their own private coinages struck, and these were used in commerce in place of U.S. coinage. Much more cruder than later issues, these coins were struck sometimes by hand, without collars, and sometimes on poorly rolled flans.

Also as with the rarer CWTs and Patriotics, those Hard Times tokens which are rarer and/or in high-demand oftentimes command hundreds or thousands of dollars for the better and the rarest of specimens.









Many Hard Times tokens also had political messages. Others were counterstamped U.S. emissions. An example is below:

 

I just found one yesterday metal detecting next to my house in fargo. How do I find info on when it was made? It says Grandin Co-operative company grandin, no. dak. on one side. the other side says good for 25cents in merchandise. no cool designs on it but its in good shape. I cant find any info on it or the grandin co-op company.