Advice on USA token books please

[dooly]

Hi all

 

I have a copy of "Russell Rulau Standard catalog of United States Tokens 1700-1900 2nd edition"

 

but i have a chance of these "older" editions would it be advisable to purchase these as well and also what would you expect to pay for these older editions ?

 

 

cheers dooly

[Conder101]

I would think that the older editions of the Rulau books are probably pretty well incorperated into the new book, but the Fuld book could be a good suppliment because I seriously doubt that Rulau has incorprorated the information on all of the patriotic dies and all their combinations into the new book. I would not pay more than about $10 or so for the Fuld book though. Before I paid more than than I would track down and buy the most recent copy of the Patriotic token book, (And then of course there is also the Civil War Token Storecard book. Thousands more varieties.)

 

The Rulau book is OK as a general reference but it doesn't come close to providing the information found in the dedicated reference books on the various series. But you can fill an entire bookshelf, possibly bookcase, with all the dedicated references.

[BillJones]

I have not seen Rulau's "big" token book beyond the 4th edition. I can tell you that the Civil War token section of the 4th edition was just about worthless IMO. The pricing information was useless, and statements about some tokens being so rare as to be unobtainable were not accurate at all. In addition the number of varieties listed only scratched the surface.

 

I'm not in the loop as to what is happening with new Civil War token reference books to replace the two Fuld books. Those are still the best references. Beyond that the book by the late Brian Kanzinger (sp) was a good supplement for the Fuld books, but the prices are now hopelessly out of date.

 

In general I’d say the Rulau did a decent to great job with everything he covered EXCEPT Civil War Tokens. I can’t see any reason to buy the old editions of his books however, because each new edition was improvement from what I could see.

 

[dooly]

Thanks very much gentlemen for the invaluable information i will take it on board (thumbs u

[BillJones]

I just got my latest copy of The Civil War Token Journal. This is a new 5th edition of the Patriotic token book that came out last year. The price to CWTS members is $30. I just ordered it. If it's a good as the 4th edition was, it is well worthwhile.

 

The CWTS is looking for input for a revised store card book. They are specifically looking for the very rare, virtually unique varieties. The second edition of Fuld’s store card book was last revised in 1971. A new book has been in the works for years, but the subject is so large that the research is a never ending task.

 

Q. David Bowers was working on a book, but he really bite off a lot when he stated that he would include bio information about each of the merchants who issued tokens. I wrote an article for The Civil War Token Journal years ago about the Comer’s College (Boston) token, and I can tell you researching the life of Mr. Comer and his college was not easy despite the fact I had the resources of the Boston Public Library and the New England Genealogical Society to help me. Back in 19th century, having an obituary published about someone was unusual. So the data, beyond perhaps the location of the store can be very sparse.