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Lincoln Civil War Token sells for $6,000 Moon Money!
Zoins
Posts: 33,910 ✭✭✭✭✭
Exonumia is going through the roof!
1864 Lincoln Patriotic Civil War Token - by F.C. Key & Son - Copper - Fuld-131A/349Aa - R8 - PCGS MS66BN - Ex. Robert "Bob" Williams, Steve Hayden (d)
This token sat for $1,850 for months on @SteveHayden's website but he just sold it on eBay for almost $6K!
I liked this token because I have one in silver. Should have picked it up when I had the chance!
I wonder if PCGS will list the price on Cert Verification.
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Here's the bidding history. It has a 99 cent start too!
General McClellan - United States Copper - White Metal - F-138/434e - R8 - PCGS MS64 - Ex. Robert "Bob" Williams, Steve Hayden (d)
Here's one from the same 1864 election I picked up from the Bob Williams collection via Steve.
Hopefully the Bob Williams provenance gets known for quality!
I dont like when I see a "private bidder" as the underbidder when the spread is almost four thousand dollars. This is not a knock against Steve, who is an honest seller and a source for many of my best pieces.
It's just weird. And the price, of course, is outrageous given the circumstances.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
I have to wonder if the buyer is the same one that dropped $50k on four of Steve's sutler tokens in February. Those had estimates (I believe) of less than 25% the realized price.
It seems someone has entered exonumia with a "win at all cost" approach.
Hope they stick around when it is my time to sell!
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
I made reference about this token in another thread about nuclear deals and last nights HA auction.
I was planning on bidding on this token but when I saw the price was near $2,000 my plans quickly switched. But, I guess I should have gone ahead and bid and then been blown out of the water just like n - 1 of the bidders. It's a cool token but that is a huge price.
I'm seeing more and more prices realized for collectibles such as coins, tokens, medals, comic books, sports cards, etc. that seem to defy good sense. If I owned material like this I think it would be a good time to put it on the market and see if I could benefit from such wild bidding. Unfortunately, I don't own any such items.
The reality is as more and more people get turned on to tokens and medals, prices naturally begin to climb. Like any other area of collecting, it's about supply and demand. Ive personally seen a lot more general coin collectors venture into exonumia in the last few years. It's just more interesting to alot of people than collecting the same design with different dates/mintmarks.
That being said, increase in popularity doesn't explain the wild difference in price of the same token offered by the same dealer at 1/3 the price on his website for months all of a sudden flying to the moon on eBay. Things fly under the radar all the time in exonumia, but this one defies logic. It's not even a particularly rare item, all things considered.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
That is an incredible price and I too am concerned when there are private bidders. Especially when it raised the bid by several thousands. It could be people sitting at home with nothing much else to do.
Or, 2 people really wanted it.
Price for tokens and medals are climbing every year now for a long time. When will we see a decline?
Probably when I decide to let mine go
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC
There are a lot of nutty bids for Civil War tokens. I tried the buy a “spoot” variety that was in an AU-55 holder. The grade was really what we used to call EF. I bid $100, the Heritage reserve was $110. I then bid $150. It sold for $170 plus the 20% buyers’ fee.
Am I that far off, or are there a bunch of “buy” type bidders out there who don’t care what they pay?
Current market for patriotic cwt’s is going higher. On the token thread, I posted my Au55 pick up, and I had to pay around $200.
Ms65/66 tokens with desireable designs and good eye appeal seem to be going for $400-$600 now, when a year ago, $300 should have won it.
My feeling is that there is a lot of money available. As mentioned, tokens have history and many designs, and low production/rarity. For $200-$600 you can get a special token, whereas it just gets you a ho hum coin. With all the available cash, $200-$300 is yesterday’s hundred dollar fun bid to many people.
There are some new, deep-pocketed bidders in the Hard Times Token arena as well. Many HTTs in Steve’s recent sale went far above estimate...same thing in his eBay auctions. It’s funny...Steve always puts his sale estimate in his auction descriptions and on the back of slabs (see the pics above), etc...in spite of that, there are still bidders knowingly paying multiples of a token’s market value. To Steve’s credit, he’s built a good business over many, many years and has a dedicated (I’ve heard some say “cult-like”) following.
Many of today’s prices simply make no sense and will likely result in buyers being buried in their acquisitions forever. But who ever said collecting makes sense, right? My wife says it’s a mental illness haha — some of these recent prices seem to support that theory.
ANA LM
USAF Retired — 34 years of active military service! 🇺🇸
Civil War
Eye Appeal
Great Toning
High Grade
NGC slab
R8
The fact that it was offered a lot less on his website and then exploded during auction isn't suspect due to the increased attention from the auction
Obviously 2 whales possibly newbies who made money in the various markets stock, real estate, and bitcoin. I would don't make much from an exception. Again for all the above reasons these things can happen and it did
I agree it's kind of strange to see a private bidder at that level, but given that it was for sale for $1,850 on Steve's site for months, the $5,888 underbid wouldn't make sense to be fishy to me.
How can one make one's bids private? Is it a setting in eBay?
Imagine if Hansen got involved in exonumia? He could wipe us all out in one foul swoop
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Who’s the next Steve Tanenbaum or QDB of Civil War Tokens?
You and I, my friend...you and I!
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
I agree... Zoins, DCW, and the person who bought the Sutler Tokens at Hayden’s auction and who keeps outbidding me.
If you mean from a super-collection perspective, there are more than a couple serious players out there right now but no one is acquiring major collections or substantial raw accumulations intact to hold as could be done in the past. Rather, those past collections are being pieced out so new super holdings must be put together mostly piece by piece.
If by chance you mean who's next from a research perspective, that's a different discussion (but they are out there).