The word of the day is Vecturist

bronco2078

I recently acquired a collection that included 100's maybe even 1000's of tokens and elongated coins. Many of the tokens are labeled A.V.A. with names of dealers or in memory of someone , merry christmas from so and so. Is there a forum where people talk about these type of token someone could kindly point me towards?

coindeuce

Collectors of transportation tokens are a "special" breed. A nearly extinct one at that.

BStrauss3

You mean like let me google that for you... https://lmgtfy.com/?q=vecturist ?

bronco2078

I guess I could have googled it whats the fun in that though? ,

I was curious if there were any vecturists on here that might chime in and talk about it

cladking

Sure. I collect transportation tokens by variety and specialize in Washington DC and Indiana. I collect them all though.

There's a great catalog (Atwood Coffee) and a club dedicated to collecting them (AVA). It's a great hobby since you can collect hundreds and hundreds of them before you wipe out a $100 bill. Postage costs add up now days though.

They don't get very expensive until you have about 10,000 then most of what's left will cost $2 and the rarities can go for a $200 or more.

bronco2078

A lot of these are more like store cards slanted towards veturist dealers . So for instance several variations of tokens that say "Collector of Transportation tokens" with a streetcar being pulled by horses which on the opposite side says "Melvin Carmichael AVA 42 Klamath falls, Oregon Phone 884-5808 "
Some of what I thought were elongated cents are actually elongated transport tokens.

Since you mention Indiana , I found what looks like a button without a pin on the back , the back is a mirror for some reason, that is 3 inches in diameter and says " Collector of transport tokens LLLOYD E. WAGAMAN Route 1 , Box 195-D Camby , Indiana 46113 "

cladking

@bronco2078 said:
A lot of these are more like store cards slanted towards veturist dealers . So for instance several variations of tokens that say "Collector of Transportation tokens" with a streetcar being pulled by horses which on the opposite side says "Melvin Carmichael AVA 42 Klamath falls, Oregon Phone 884-5808 "
Some of what I thought were elongated cents are actually elongated transport tokens.

Since you mention Indiana , I found what looks like a button without a pin on the back , the back is a mirror for some reason, that is 3 inches in diameter and says " Collector of transport tokens LLLOYD E. WAGAMAN Route 1 , Box 195-D Camby , Indiana 46113 "

He's listed in the '90 and '94 rosters as a collector of US TT's and parking tokens as well as personal tokens. Many collectors of coin club or personal tokens have issued their own tokens frequently in the form of their favorite tokens.

cladking

The AVA appears to be doing quite well really.

http://www.vecturist.com/

messydesk

@cladking said:
... It's a great hobby since you can collect hundreds and hundreds of them before you wipe out a $100 bill. Postage costs add up now days though.

It would seem postage costs can play a significant role in killing off a hobby, or at least radically changing it.

291fifth

Interest in these seems to have declined sharply over recent decades. I can recall when numismatic publications used to have regular articles on the subject. Do any of them still have such articles on a regular basis?

ricko

Does this hobby include subway tokens?..... There are several varieties of those, and I understand there used to be streetcar tokens as well....Cheers, RickO

BStrauss3

1000s Rick...

Growing up, NYC had two sizes and (IIRC) 3 tokens (large w & wo the cut out Y). When the fare was raised they would call in the current token and issue one of the others at the new fare. So the game was did you turn in the old tokens or hold them 5-7 years when they would then be reissued and be worth an extra dime.