Information on a Hard Times Token...

lkenefic

...and why did this hammer for over $1k?

Hello Everyone... I've taken a detour into Tokens that circulated in the 1830s and noticed some aggressive bidding on this one... A raw HT-278 "Bone Setter" token. It's in QDBs book and another book on Hard Times tokens and looks to be an R3 or R4 in terms of rarity. Values given hover around the $250 to $500 range depending upon grade... XF to AU... an MS66 piece sold for over $1000, but this is nowhere near that grade. What am I missing? I've only been researching these for the last couple of months...

jesbroken

How do Restrikes figure into the pricing/value? I have noticed HT-279 labeled Restrike.
Jim

lkenefic

@jesbroken said:
How do Restrikes figure into the pricing/value? I have noticed HT-279 labeled Restrike.
Jim

Good question! I'm not sure how restrikes figure in to value, but I do notice that there are thick planchet and thin planchet versions...

tokenpro

The two tokens are valued independently. The thin planchet restrikes from the post-Civil War period (HT-279) are more available in higher grades but often show evidence of die deterioration. The original thick planchet strikes (HT-278) are not overly difficult to find in lower grades but are scarce in grades over xf. The New York "Bone-Setter" has always been a very popular piece. I am not sure why Rulau assigned a separate catalog number to the restrike, a determination that Bowers did not repeat.

lkenefic

@tokenpro said:
The two tokens are valued independently. The thin planchet restrikes from the post-Civil War period (HT-279) are more available in higher grades but often show evidence of die deterioration. The original thick planchet strikes (HT-278) are not overly difficult to find in lower grades but are scarce in grades over xf. The New York "Bone-Setter" has always been a very popular piece. I am not sure why Rulau assigned a separate catalog number to the restrike, a determination that Bowers did not repeat.

Thanks for the explanation. I didnt realize that thick planchet was synonymous with the original and thin planchet are the restrikes... thanks for clearing that up.

lkenefic

So, the auction looks like someone thought it was more a higher end, maybe low MS, piece?