do any of you guys use this book?

[seger98]

Do any of you guys use the following book? I found it on ebay & was wondering if it's worth the price, your like & dislikes. also any other books on tokens & tags to reccomend?

http://cgi.ebay.com/US-Token-ID-Boo...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50



Chris

 

[idahotokens]

Well, yes, I have an older edition on my bookshelf, but no, I don't use it very much. It has a lot of good general information in it for various US tokens up to 1900, but most of the trade tokens I deal with are more recent than that. Plus, there are a few glaring errors (like a 1940s token being listed in the Gay Nineties section) and some questionable attributions. It is certainly not all-inclusive for the date range given, but it has a lot in it. The study of tokens is a young field, so new finds are happening all the time. Depending on what you want for a reference book, this may be a good choice. If you are interested in trade tokens of a specific state or region, the state catalogs might be better. As for the price, shop the online booksellers and the publisher's website for comparisons.
John in ID

 

[seger98]

Well, yes, I have an older edition on my bookshelf, but no, I don't use it very much. It has a lot of good general information in it for various US tokens up to 1900, but most of the trade tokens I deal with are more recent than that. Plus, there are a few glaring errors (like a 1940s token being listed in the Gay Nineties section) and some questionable attributions. It is certainly not all-inclusive for the date range given, but it has a lot in it. The study of tokens is a young field, so new finds are happening all the time. Depending on what you want for a reference book, this may be a good choice. If you are interested in trade tokens of a specific state or region, the state catalogs might be better. As for the price, shop the online booksellers and the publisher's website for comparisons.
John in ID

Thank you very much for your response. I am looking at building a library on U.S. tokens, no one state specifically. My first thought was what you said about the years, most of the tokens I see posted on this site are of later years, so I don't know how much help the book would be. Thanks again,


Chris

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

many people dig or discover older tokens from the Hard times - large cent size period and the civil war period - small cent size. To buy a good catalog of tokens for hard times tokens plus the two good civil war token catalogs - store card and patriotic would easily cost what this catalog costs. That said it is in its 4th or 5th edition so it should be possible to find an earlier edition for reference use where the biggest part of the cost would be shipping. While it is true that individual state catalogs are sometimes more useful few of them are still in print and most of them are very expensive. If you have the money and want to invest up to $5000 you can most likely find the most recent editions of all of them somewhere. Most folks find it a stretch to get the catalog from their own state. Some states have no catalog yet. exanimo, siegfried schlagrule