A nice Civil War token article in Coin World

DCW

https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/market-analysis-a-friendly-dog-or-a-winged-sea-monster

It's always nice when mainstream numismatic publications feature some exonumia. This usually happens when strong prices are realized on a particular lot. In this case, they highlighted Merriam's "Good For A Scent" token in NGC MS63 which brought an astounding $5,651!

It should be noted this is one of the rarer varieties, but it certainly is not R9 as has been suggested. This is actually the second one to be auctioned in the last 2 months, and I know of a handful of others.
Hope the link works for anyone interested.

LanceNewmanOCC

i appreciate the commentary. not being an expert on cwt by any means, i still thought that a tad high for that piece although there is a level of relativity and chaos to pricing collectables. a lot of variables to affect the outcome of prices.

do you know if the token collectors keep census info? i know it would be a TON of work and information but just like anything, add some info here, add some info there, the years pass by and before you know it...

tokenpro

I will give an Oklahoma guarantee that the same G/F A Scent puppy dog will be at the same table at FUN in the same red/brown au condition with the same price on the holder...

and the same major scratch nearly from rim to rim.

DCW

@LanceNewmanOCC

Well, it certainly did sell for more than I thought it would. However, the normal storecard in high grades has fetched big $$$ over the recent years, so maybe it was just a matter of time for the rarer varieties.
This one is mine:

I do keep track of these, and this one is the highest graded. But "highest graded" and "finest known" are two completely different things in exonumia.
Grading is all over the place.

That being said, that may be the nicest one out there. I didn't examine it in hand and the color looks a little strange...I wonder where it came from?

LanceNewmanOCC

@DCW said:
That being said, that may be the nicest one out there. I didn't examine it in hand and the color looks a little strange

.
while i don't know precisely what the appropriate hues are supposed to be for this piece, i will say i do recognize the imaging style and it looks over-exposed and possibly diffused. this is a technique intended to emphasize color, dcam etc. but part of the trade off is ANY imperfections, of any type are significantly highlighted. it CAN make the details a little easier to see, especially considering, the average age of collectors for this stuff is probably above normal, i'd say.

i'd put a small wager, regularly imaged, it probably doesn't look terribly different than the one above it in your post. (your example)

i can definitely see grading being an issue, i'd say mostly because of the significantly less amount of eyes and lets say well-trained eyes to really hone it down BUT even for series where there are plenty, there still is variance of opinion. always has been, always will be.

DCW

Seems like the "&" took a significant hit, too.

ricko

In the collectible markets, there is some predictability... but often, when special items appear for auction, and deep pockets are viewing, the testosterone takes over. Cheers, RickO

Zoins

Here's the lot listing and description for the token that was recently sold.

The reference to the $7,075 sale in 2021 probably didn't hurt getting people excited to bid.

@SteveHayden said:
109 - MA115D-3b R9 NGC MS63 Good For Scent Dog Massachusetts Civil War token
(2000-3000)
Winning Bid: $5,651.00
[...]
109 - MA115D-3b R9 NGC MS63 Trace Bright with some light toning. Merriam & Co., Boston Massachusetts struck in Brass with very popular Good For A Scent dog on reverse. A very rare merchant, and although this is considerably rarer, it serves as the type for the merchant, as the R8 -2b features both the Dog and the Salamander/Toad seal press. We sold an NGC MS62 example of that token for $7,075 in our February 2021 auction. (2000-3000)

https://www.civilwartokens.com/Event/LotDetails/3308386/109-MA115D3b-R9-NGC-MS63-Good-For-Scent-Dog-Massachusetts-Civil-War-token

There's no slab image or NGC cert number, but if it was known, we could look up the NGC slab photos.

LanceNewmanOCC

@Zoins said:
Here's the lot listing and description for the token that was recently sold.

The reference to the $7,075 sale in 2021 probably didn't hurt getting people excited to bid.

.
JUST for the sake of conversation and understanding some context, is the blurb at the bottom of that CWT auction page referencing this or a similar piece selling for that amount or the scarce dog/scent/salamander example selling for $7k+ and using it as a guideline for scarce tokens from this merchant? t.i.a.

i have been wondering, so i will see if i can turn up a slab pic since you mention it.

i'll have to try again a different time. i'm turning up NADA in the way of cert numbers or slab images.

DCW

The $7075 quoted was for the Toad Press reverse (sometimes inaccurately called a salamander.)
Steve's pre auction estimate of 2000-3000 was more in line with what this variety sells for.
But anything goes in auctions.