How Can An Old Arcade Tokens Sell For More Than Silver????!
PaulDoherty
Posts: 2 ✭
I’ve been selling coins full time for a decade now and the other day, I’m sifting through the giant pawn shop we call eBay and I’m seeing old arcade tokens going for $20-$30 bucks a piece. A few years ago, I sold these as junk coins for what was usually $6 a pound.
I know our world is a little off-kilter right now, but what is going on with this? Who buys arcade tokens? Is this a nostalgia thing? What in the world is going on???
-Paul D.
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Need more information. There have always been some tokens that carry a premium, even certain chuck e. Cheese tokens.
Especially certain chuck e cheese tokens!
Why is a 24 cent stamp worth $1.6 million dollars, because it is rare in more than one person's eyes. Anytime 2 people feel they want something that is for sale or at auction, then the price will be whatever they feel like bidding/paying. Just because we may think it won't even mail a letter today, doesn't mean a thing. The main thing to consider in regards to ebay, isn't what they are asking for something, but what something has sold for. Big difference.
Jim
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COFFEE
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I collect them. No weirder than collecting any other type of token (or coin for that matter.)
US and British coin collector, and creator of The Ultimate Chuck E. Cheese's and Showbiz Pizza Place Token & Ticket Guide
Arcade tokens aren't being used any more, most arcades have switched over to card-based systems. Nostalgia certainly plays at least a small role in the pricing. There is only one reference book that was last printed in 1994.
Custom album maker and numismatic photographer, see my portfolio here: (http://www.donahuenumismatics.com/).
Welcome. First post.
Ok. There’s copper coins , plastic coins, Bakelite coins, paper money, cuni coins, gold plated, silver plated. You get my point. Value is in the eye of the collector. Period. 🤔
Redbook is full of coins that aren’t silver and are worth way more than silver. Heck, some more than gold. Thanks 🙏
And tokens , casino chips, commemoratives, so- called dollars……..,
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
Chuck E. Cheese tokens offer a richer collecting experience than other arcade tokens because they dated them (1977-2018), and went through numerous types and sizes. Many even notated the city they were used in.
US and British coin collector, and creator of The Ultimate Chuck E. Cheese's and Showbiz Pizza Place Token & Ticket Guide
It appears that anything with a spaceship on it is worth at least $20....and quality does not seem to be an issue for buyers. I was a statistician before getting into coins and after running an analysis of current prices on eBay, it looks like the average price is about $8 a piece. I'm honestly thinking of bidding on a 10-pound lot for fun and see if I can make some extra cash. The researcher in me says why not?, the business part of me says go for it. Right now, if I can pick up a few hundred bucks, I'm going to do it. The only question I have is WHO IS BUYING THESE????
The millions of eyes on the greatest market place ever. Say what you like there’s nothing like it for a fantastic customer base. Now are they all quality folks? 🤔
Caveat Emptor as my guide I happily sail the uncharted waters and await the next treasure. Thanks 🙏
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
They sure had lousy pizza. On a whim we ...tried... one. ONCE !
When our kids were little, thankfully ...not many... parents decided to have parties there.
I guess ...some... kids were smitten with the place.
Make sure you’re looking at completed sales. The large majority of CEC tokens on eBay don’t really sell. I get contacted by many people who think they’ve got a gold mine, and are upset when I explain that what they have is not rare, and probably only worth $0.50 each. Of the 400+ different CEC tokens, probably only 75 are worth your time, and even then there are not a ton of buyers out there.
I don’t know anything about the other arcade tokens, but I know there are even less buyers for those.
US and British coin collector, and creator of The Ultimate Chuck E. Cheese's and Showbiz Pizza Place Token & Ticket Guide
Stupid money finds hidden corners everywhere.
The band sucks and the pizza’s cold and you eat it with a snot nose 4 year old.
Not to hijack the thread, but how scarce are errors on the CEC tokens? I picked up a couple of earlier examples with clips, I want to say they were from 1979 or 1980, and they were not cheap, at least compared to US coins from the same era. If I can remember where I put them, I'll add pics to this post this evening.
Sean Reynolds
"Keep in mind that most of what passes as numismatic information is no more than tested opinion at best, and marketing blather at worst. However, I try to choose my words carefully, since I know that you guys are always watching." - Joe O'Connor
At least on eBay, there have been almost no sales of errors in the last ten years. So, I really don’t have a baseline to determine value.
Since these tokens were obviously made to be used in arcade machines. Tokens that would be rejected due to out-of-roundness or low weight were simply treated as damaged and usually just thrown away. Because of that, they’re really rare!
US and British coin collector, and creator of The Ultimate Chuck E. Cheese's and Showbiz Pizza Place Token & Ticket Guide
Supply/Demand
As "mainstream" collecting became more and more expensive, and/or collectors are turned off modern coins by the way the Mints churn out reams of cheap junk for high prices, many collectors turned to cheaper numismatic items out on the exonumia fringe, so they could scratch their "collecting" itch on a more modest budget: tokens, medals, badges and such. But as more and more people do this, the more "mainstream" such collecting becomes - and this in turn leads to higher prices.
With arcade tokens now effectively extinct as functional items (arcades are shutting down due to the rising popularity of Internet gaming, and the surviving arcades are switching to swipe-cards rather than tokens on their machines), the series can now be considered "closed" - you don't have to worry about somebody coming along and making a whole bunch of new token types or keeping track of latest releases - you can focus on "completing the sets". And rising numbers of set-completers means rising prices for the harder-to-find examples in the sets.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD.
Does PCGS grade any of these?
Gambling tokens yup
Nothing on CEC tokens
🎶 shout shout, let it all out 🎶
I've been collecting arcade tokens since the 80s and have a bunch of extras if anyone is interested in trading. I’m getting back into tokens after focusing on other things for a while, and I have my web site back up at https://www.arcadetokens.net/
Prices for some of the rare Chuck E. Cheese tokens were going crazy on eBay last fall, up to $600 or $800, but most of those auctions had very few bidders, so it's possible someone was trying to manipulate the market. There does seem to be interest at a lower (but still high) level. I sold an extra 1977 CEC for $115, which is high but not outrageous (they have sold for $50 on Ebay before). Error tokens seem to be more available than error coins, but eye-catching error tokens are still hard to find.
Just because something is being offered at $20 does not mean that it is selling for $20.
A lot of people offer stuff at too high prices because they do not know what they are doing.
What seems to be trash... can become desirable over time. Franklin Mint items from the 1970's and 1980's were rejected over time as overpriced junk (and they were expensive for the time!). But.... many desirable and attractive items from them are certainly being sought by collectors now. Some were very very low mintages, and designs IMO were actually better in some cases than what we see coming out of the US Mint. Again, my opinion.
I can certainly believe that gaming tokens are coming into fashion, as those who used the tokens are now adults and perhaps have fond memories of those times.
Collectors market.
Current Chuck E. Cheese token "Sold Items" prices vary a lot, depending on the type.
City tokens have sold for $9-50 (total including shipping):
$50 1980 Tucson, AZ
$45 1979 Sacramento, CA
$30 1979 Stockton, CA
$25 1979 Huntington Beach, CA
$22 1980 Arlington, TX
$20 1981 Winter Park, FL
$18 1981 Fullerton, CA
under $15 1981 Huntington Beach, CA
$12 1981 Fullerton, CA
$9 1981 San Jose, CA
More generic tokens in the $1-5, sometimes $10 range.
Quantity lots sell for under $1 each.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=chuck+e+cheese+token&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1
Thanks for the effort!