Civil War Store Cards....A new collecting area - looking for some advice.
NeophyteNumismatist
Posts: 1,078 ✭✭✭✭✭
Some of my collections are getting wrapped up, and I am looking for a side project while I search for the last few coins in each set. I know I want something historical... something where I can find rarity and interesting die states... something the compliments what I am doing...something with depth that I can study... but it can't be so expensive that the budget meaningfully competes with my core sets.
I landed on Civil War Store Tokens. I find them interesting, they can be rare, but are relatively affordable. They are not very popular, because they are not true "coins", but that doesn't bother me a bit. I look at coins and wonder where they have been - store cards help to answer some of that question.
I do have a few problems:
I really don't know much about them except I think they are "cool" (I ordered the Fuld book on Store Cards, and joined the Civil War Token Society to start my education)
I don't know how to collect them. By State? Industry? Design? Does it matter since it is virtually impossible to collect them all?
I don't know how to valuate them. When compared to my primary series, almost all of them feel like a "bargain" in high grade. This feels especially so when the seller is claiming the token is R9. But, if the collector base is R10....well (I just don't know enough here). I do not want to snap several up and realize later I paid 10X market. I am not aware of any price guides that help to develop a baseline.
I have not bought a single token yet, because I don't feel like I understand enough to collect them effectively. I just know they are a very interesting side project that can keep me busy for a loooong time.
Do you collect Civil War Tokens?
What is your approach?
What resources do you use?
What are the best outlets for this material in MS grades?
I am a newer collector (started April 2020), and I primarily focus on U.S. Half Cents and Type Coins. Early copper is my favorite.
Comments
Weird... so I have had some issues in posting content. I get a message that says it will appear when the content is approved. Sometimes this happens, and other times not. In any event, this was a post that never showed up... so I recreated the post... and now here it is many days later.
Apologies for the duplicate post and please ignore.
I am a newer collector (started April 2020), and I primarily focus on U.S. Half Cents and Type Coins. Early copper is my favorite.
I started out buying the inexpensive upgradable ones so,I can learn on the. Learn to take good images and stare at them on the computer. Learning all the details of tokens. Some are just struck weak, some are from rusty dies…….etc…
Might not work for you but that was my cheapest way to learn about tokens
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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
my approach ... unique PCGS pop 1
resources @DCW & various friends and reference materials previously posted in another thread
best outlets - @DCW ,,, BST ... the bay ...
Top 10 Cal Fractional Type Set
successful BST with Ankurj, BigAl, Bullsitter, CommemKing, DCW(7), Downtown1974, Elmerfusterpuck, Joelewis, Mach1ne, Minuteman810430, Modcrewman, Nankraut, Nederveit2, Philographer(5), Realgator, Silverpop, SurfinxHI, TomB and Yorkshireman(3)
Take it slow and methodical... study the book, review auctions etc. and learn general pricing. Buy a few that interest you and see if you are happy once the tokens are in hand. Have fun... Cheers, RickO
Yes, largely for the same reasons you mention: "I find them interesting, they can be rare, but are relatively affordable."
Absolute rarity or condition rarity. Given how rare they are, I'll buy them in any slab or even raw.
eBay and civilwartokens.com.
eBay, civilwartokens.com, Heritage, and Stack's.