Does anyone collect "Good For" tokens anymore?
291fifth
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I seldom hear these mentioned anymore. Is this an area of collecting that has declined in interest in recent years?
All glory is fleeting.
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I do. I think it is a lot of fun to research the merchant that issued them, and if the business was local it's also interesting to go to the location and see what's there now. Kind of like US Coins, they all have a story, and that tangible link to the past is what drives me to collect.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
My grandpa collects tokens from Iowa, if you have any you are looking to move from Iowa PM me and I will see if he needs them.
When I first started collecting there were junk boxes full of these things at 8 for a dollar. Over the years there was just no interest. Then in the early '80's there was some growing interest and this was about the time I started collecting them as well. By the mid-'90's prices were so strong and my will to collect every state so weak that I sold and traded off all of them except the Indiana collection.
By early this century though interest began to wane and I wasn't even able to sell a unique MI token from an "unknown" city or a couple dozen unknown tokens from Charlotte, MI.
A lot of people don't realize just how "rare" all of these really are. To put it in perspective, about 90% of all issues that were produced have no surviving examples at all or are unknown to collectors. Most of the "common" issues have populations of "400" to "900". Most known issues are much scarcer with populations of "3" to "50". In other words attrition on good fors from the '30's and earlier is in the vicinity of about 97%. The huge attrition is largely caused by the tendency of issuers to destroy all the tokens when the promotion was over.
They still bring fair prices but this certainly isn't their heyday.
I also think pieces that have some imagery are more in demand than tokens with just your "plain jane" lettering.
I have one that is from Newark, NJ that depicts the issuer "Murph" promoting a discount to the bearer of the token at his shoe store. Let me see if I can bring that bad boy out, it's pretty neat...
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
This is "Murph":
It still resides in one of Steve Tanenbaum's old 2x2's with the little notes he'd write on them. I work in Newark and I swung by the address of Murphy's shop. Not surprisingly, he no longer is in business!
It is funny how these little discs keep the memory of someone alive in some small way. They may have achieved great wealth and success in business during their lifetimes, but may only be remembered today by the tokens they issued.
I'll take a better picture someday with some background info on Mr. Murphy the Shoeman if anyone is interested.
(And I may do it anyway!)
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Does anyone still ISSUE good fors? I expect a few people do...
The Gallery Mint Museum by Ron Landis and Joe Rust issued some not too long ago.
By all means just do it to it.
Lots of people collect things like shoe or soap related items so these can get their own specific demand that isn't enjoyed by a "plain Jane" token.
I collect "shoe" memorabilia (especially tokens and medals) by the way.
Great topic.
I've collected Good For tokens for over 25 years (and still do).
I collected Good For and other tokens and counterstamps with my last name "Perkins" on them, whether a street, town, or person. I have a double row box full of these, mostly all different. Many of these are unique or quite rare.
Here is an example "GOOD FOR 5 CENT LOAF OF BREAD" with "C. B. PERKINS / RICHMOND, MO." on the opposite side.
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Photo courtesy of W. David Perkins.
W. David Perkins Numismatics - http://www.davidperkinsrarecoins.com/ - 25+ Years ANA, ANS, NLG, NBS, LM JRCS, LSCC, EAC, TAMS, LM CWTS, CSNS, FUN
I like denominations with fractions. I have a few 12-½ cent tokens and have seen a few 6-¼ cent tokens. I also have an interest in Alaska tokens because of the frontier history. I still need photos for these and the GMM tokens.
At a few of the local shows I attend, the "token" guy has a pretty strong following, and seems to do a nice business.
I never really had much interest in them, but I can easily see how someone could, especially in regards to hobbies, hometowns, etc.
I like them a lot but they are so hard to figure out sometimes.
Tokens are cool... and generally reflect local history and commerce. Certainly historically relevant in economics.....Cheers, RickO
What is hard to figure out for you? The hardest thing for me is knowing what is available in terms of a catalog. Would be great to have something like CoinFacts for these.
im sure there still out there collecting.
I see them for "beverages" at dive bars still. Have this one waiting to redeem it at high end Mexi-Cali restaurant...
I have been told this is a very good item - Skagway, Alaska between 1898 - 1910.
The Monogram was a bar and bottle store.
Note of course, the denomination is 6 and 1/4 cents, or half a bit. Brass-ish, about 22 mm.
My photo taking ability is very basic, sorry.
Found a few months ago in box of misc. that had sat for more than forty years.
I have a few Civil War token good For tokens. They are generally very scarce to rare. My theory is that they were often destroyed after the merchant redeemed them, which made them rare.
I have buckets of tokens/trade dollars/good fors. no time to sort at the moment.
all around collector of many fine things
I collect good for's from cities I've lived in...Pismo Beach, Leadville, Grand Junction, Honolulu...
A good reference book will increase interest. In WA state, there is a well researched book and a small but enthusiastic group of token collectors, I go to local meetings occasionally. Some can have interesting designs.
Well some of them only say something like "25"
And don't give you much to go on like a town name or state even.
I don't collect, and get tired of them coming in as "coins" to the shop. Like tax tokens and bus tokens and store tokens. No interest whatsoever. And they are not valuable enough to pay the fees to list them anywhere. Although, Not long ago, I did discover an 1886 S $5 Gold Liberty in a box of junk tokens and foreign coins which I paid $3 for, soooooooo I guess they're "Good For" something.
Are there well publicized books on Good For tokens? This would certainly create more interest.
I believe most collectors have a few Good For tokens. I certainly do.