Any Conder Token Collectors here?

[Newmismatist]

I just retured from Baltimore where I encountered a dealer who had purchased a group of Conder Tokens from a recent Baldwin's Auction - He had about 60+ tokens and I bought about 20 tokens from him (plus another dozen from several other dealers) - Anyone here collect Conder tokens?

[dooly]

Yep have a few left in the collection but the last of the 500 i had are listed in ebay at the moment take a look if you want

[Conder101]

Yes, I collect the English Genuine Trade Tokens that were actually issued to circulate as money. There are about 650 varieties not including edge variations. I have about 530 of them.

 

I also collect the Skidmore Churches and Gates series. There are about 135 varieties not including edge varieties. I have 46 of them.

 

I also have some that don't fit in with the two collections that have just been acquired along the way.

 

All together I have about 760 different varieties.

[Newmismatist]

I purchased the DH book to try and figure out what I have - these are really interesting - I particularly like the architechural coins. There are some interesting political tokens, and I bought one that has a neat motif dealing with the French Revolution. The die engraving is quite nice - considering that these are late 18th century copper tokens, they represent an interesting historical view of England immediately after the American revolution and during the ensuing French revolution. Quite enjoyable for a history buff like myself.

[Yarm]

I've tended to focus on tokens available in choice uncirculated condition so I have more private and specious tokens and medals included in D&H than GTT's.

[Newmismatist]

How do you determine if they are Genuine Trade Tokens that circulated as money or just "Tokens"?

[Conder101]

Most of the GTT's have on them the name or location of the issuer of the token where they could be redeemed. Numbers made and for whom still exist for a great many of the tokens which can also be an important clue. A large part of my list of which pieces were GTT's comes from pieces identified as such by Arthur Waters in his "Notes on 18th Century Tokens" and R C Bell's "Commercial tokens 1789 - 1804"

 

The Conder tokens tend to break down into several groups

 

GTT's issued by specific merchants for circulation which were redeemable. These could/would be redeemed by the merchant and then reissued. They solved coin shortage problems and advertised the business.

 

Anonymous issues or General Circulation issues which were intended to circulate as money but which do NOT identify the original issuer. These were purchased by merchants who wanted to profit from the difference between the cost of the tokens and the face value without having to worry about redeeming them. They represented free money for those merchants.

 

Then there are the pieces made for sale to collectors. These come in two types, high quality pieces that were specificly design for sale, and mules of dies previously used for tokens for other persons. In the mid to late 1790's collecting the tokens became very fashionable and the manufacturers could make a nice sum by either creating new tokens or by muling old dies to create new "rare" varieties. (This collecting fad is the reason so many tokens are available today in high grade. In general mintages were not particularly high, often in the 15 to 25 thousand range. Some circulation pieces had mintages of 5,000 or less.)The mule type can sometimes be hard to classify because they overlap the Anonymous or General Circulation catagory.

 

Then there are the private tokens. Some collectors had tokens specificly made for themselves strictly for the purpose of trading with other collectors.

 

And finally there are the contemporary counterfeits. Some tokens became so widely accepted that they were copied by counterfieters because, being a familiar design, they would be readily accepted when tendered in payment. Most of these are cruder than the genuine tokens and tend to come on thinner lightweight planchets as the counterfeiter was also cheating on the metal as well. (A great many of the genuine tokens are of full legal weight matching or even exceeding the the official legal government weight for half penny coins.

[Newmismatist]

Thanks Conder

 

Are you going to the Mich State Show this weekend? If yes, I'll bring the Conders that I purchased at ANA & Baltimore and you can tell me if I have any worth keeping Actually, I try to buy ones that I like, so I plan on keeping them anyway - but it's always nice to share newps with those who enjoy the series.

[James_OldeTowne]

I own about sixty pieces, but only collect them informally.

[farthing]

I have approx. 200 in my collection.

[Conder101]

Yes, I will be at Michigan State Friday and Saturday. Probably not until about noon of Friday though.

[jackson64]

I'm not informed at all on Conder tokens....I think I actually own one however. I collect primarily coins with sailing ships on them and I have seen several of these great old tokens with nice nautical themes...any suggestions of ones I could look for?--it would be greatly appreciated..

 

I included some (cruddy) pics of the one I have that may be a "conder token"..an NGC 1791 D&H22 1/2P Yorkshire-Hull AU55BN obviously I bought it for the ship..

[Newmismatist]

Yes, I will be at Michigan State Friday and Saturday. Probably not until about noon of Friday though.

 

Well, Conder and I met up today at the MI State Show - He looked over my box of Conders - Gave me some great tips - showed me several of his really cool tokens - now I'm really hooked - He liked a few of mine - Also showed my Conders to Cliff Mishler - he and Conder both liked the same one as the best one - Conder remarked that several of mine were the best he had seen - Great compliment from someone who really knows this series - I even picked up a couple of new Conders today - but it's slim pickens for nice Tokens at the MSNS show.