Civil War token Questions

coinguy89

What do these run for the most part? Are there any less than a $100? I would like to take a look at a few, Im not going to be buying any soon, but they sound really cool and from the pics on the post your rare coins thread they look pretty awesome. Another question, and services grade these? Why is there not that much demand for them?

coachleonard

Actually, there is a demand for civil war tokens and it's been rising in recent years. Still, a pretty nice common
one can still be had, i think, for around $15-$20. Not long ago i could get REALLY nice ones for $10 and under.

Steve27

I bought this one for three bucks not that long ago:

coinguy89

Wow, that seems totally crazy!

JrGMan2004

Go on EBay. Find a seller named "cwtguy" His name is Ernie Latter. Nice guy, very knowledgable in many things numismatic, but his specialty is CWTs, HTTs, and other such things. Talk to him, I'm sure he'd be happy to answer your questions and give you a helping hand. And he's always selling CWTs on EBay...

coinguy89

Would it be safe to bid on the ones on ebay, they look great, and nicely affordable, but it looks like a few could be fakes, or atleast to me.

BillJones

The vast majority of Civil War token varieties that offered for sale cost less than $100. In fact one can still buy many varieties in MS-64, R&B for $50 or less. A few of the extremely common pieces can be had in MS-64, Red for $50 or less.

The demand for Civil War tokens has increased greatly in the last five years. A few years ago they could be purchased for $10 or less. Today there are dealer specialists who will pay $10 or more for any variety that is in at least choice VF condition.

NGC and ANACS grade Civil War tokens. At first NGC did a pretty bad job. Their grading was WAY too lose. But after a false start NGC has gotten its act together, and the pieces that I see are mostly OK.

I've collected Civil War tokens for number of years, and I also sell them. Currently I have 300+ pieces in stock, most as raw pieces.

JrGMan2004

Oh yeah, talk to Bill too

coinguy89

They seem quite interesting to me.

coinguy89

Could they be found at local shows?

cladking

Civil war tokens have increased substantially in price. In the mis '90's the common
uncs brought only about $5 and the "stock" type were difficult to sell. Today even the
most common ones will probably run $20 and $50 is hardly out of line for an attractive
or little better example. Even culls and low grade specimens are getting difficult to find
at low prices.

These and hard times tokens were very popular in the 1890's and often brought far
higher prices than even the difficult to find US mint issues.

They deserve more attention than they get today.

coinguy89

Are they worth looking for? I've been checking them out now for about an hour, and am quite interested and excited about what im seeing and reading.

BillJones

<< <i>Could they be found at local shows? >>



You can find them at local shows, but usually it's a hit and miss thing. At most local shows the best you often see is a little book with maybe 20 or so pieces in it. The prices seem to run from pretty cheap to WAY over priced with very little in the middle.

I take tables at local shows on the West Coast of Florida + the FUN show. I almost always have several hundred pieces in stock, and I usally have more pieces than anyone else.

coinguy89

Im gonna make sure to keep an eye out for these.

Shamika

<< <i> Would it be safe to bid on the ones on ebay, they look great, and nicely affordable, but it looks like a few could be fakes, or at least to me. >>



I've bought several on eBay without a hitch. Fakes are likely very uncommon since there is very little profit to be gained.

With regards to there popularity or lack there of, the problem I believe is that there are sooooooooo many different kinds (something like 30,000 different varieties) making a complete collection impossible. Of course the flip side of this is that collecting these things can be great BECAUSE there are sooooooooo many different kinds. Some are very expensive, but most are still surprisingly cheap.

BillJones

The total number of varieties of CWTs is more like 11,000 and 30,000.

Some of those varieties are not real Civil War tokens. They were made after the war from dies that were still available. There are also pieces that are mules, which have a Civil War era die for one side and a post Civil War die for the other. Many of these after war pieces are rare, and many of them bring big bucks - for tokens that is.

My taste runs toward peices that made during the war for use as substitutes for the real money. I don't care for the pieces that were made to satisfy collectors or create rarities. That's why I don't care for most of the off-metal varieties and the mules.

coinguy89

Thanks for the info guys.