gaming jeton catalogue? 0

[JKK]

Short version: an elderly widow friend is dealing with her husband's coin collection. I don't have the heart to tell her that he was not the numismatist he seems to have imagined he was. In case you need evidence, he bought a bunch of gaming jetons, labeled them as if they were coins of the depicted monarchs, and then scotch-taped them into cardboard flips. I mean physically taped the coin to the mylar on one side of the flip, then closed the flip on it.

Yes. While at least they weren't real coins, it's still cause for trouser grief.

Whatever his previous proficiency in handling and display, she needs help in cataloguing the collection so that she can get a sense of value and decide what to do with them. Is there a catalogue of these (generally circa 1800s) gaming jetons that assigns numbers, as with Krause, Tye, Sear, and so on? It would be great if I could put catalogue numbers on the inserts so that if she went to dispose of them later, there'd be some objective lookup reference for value. I'm not planning or offering to buy any of the collection, but I think she should know roughly her total value before she decides either to sell it off or, say, leave it to a grandchild.

[Mohawk]

Man, that's a tough one Jonathan.  I've done some research into this problem for you (if I've gained anything from my student loans and degrees, it's good researching skills), and I found nothing like that.  There are a few websites where people discuss what jetons are and how they were used, but I have not been able to locate anything even resembling a catalogue, let alone values or a listing of any different types at all.  There seems to be almost no collector base for them, based on what I've found over the course of yesterday and today., which is probably why there is no catalogue......I doubt there's ever been a collector of jetons that was serious enough and cared enough about them to assemble one.  In considering that fact, I doubt your friend's collection is going to do her much good as far as actual value goes as there seems to be nearly no demand for such pieces.  It's unfortunate that her husband was not the astute numismatist he presented himself to be and that your friend got left with this mess.  Sorry I couldn't be of more help, but I did try .  Maybe someone else will have better luck than I did.

Edited June 4, 2019 by Mohawk

[JKK]

Thanks, Tom. I guess there are a couple of old cataloguing efforts, but nothing modern. I'll have to break the bad news.

Want to weep openly? While the next volume has much more interesting stuff, it wasn't exactly well cared for. I tipped it up by mistake and out fell an EF 1832 bustie. It was just left loose in the 4x5 album slot, no flip.

[Mohawk]

1 hour ago, JKK said:

Thanks, Tom. I guess there are a couple of old cataloguing efforts, but nothing modern. I'll have to break the bad news.

Want to weep openly? While the next volume has much more interesting stuff, it wasn't exactly well cared for. I tipped it up by mistake and out fell an EF 1832 bustie. It was just left loose in the 4x5 album slot, no flip.

Ouch...that's a very poor way to care for any coin!  What was this guy doing?  It just goes to show the importance of education in this hobby and the damage that can be done to nice coins by, shall we say, inept collectors.  It's interesting that you found some evidence of old cataloguing efforts, though.  I doubt they'll ever get anywhere now due to the lack of interest in jetons and the overall lack of modern, usable information.  Someone would basically have to start from scratch....what a huge job that would be!  Someone would have to have a real passion for these things to undertake that, and I doubt that person exists.  I feel really sorry for your friend, Jonathan.  I'm so sorry that her husband left her in this situation and it's good that she has you to help her out.

Edited June 4, 2019 by Mohawk

[JKK]

1 minute ago, Mohawk said:

Ouch...that's a very poor way to care for any coin!  What was this guy doing?  It just goes to show the importance of education in this hobby and the damage that can be done to nice coins by, shall we say, inept collectors.  I ran across some implication of old cataloguing efforts as well, but I couldn't find anything to confirm that these efforts got anywhere or any evidence of them that seemed concrete, so I figured they were phantoms, hence why I eliminated them from my response.  It's interesting to hear you say that these older efforts did get somewhere.  I feel really sorry for your friend, Jonathan.  I'm so sorry that her husband left her in this situation and it's good that she has you to help her out.

It's either I help her or the sharks help themselves to her. But it's well worth while just for the variety I'm getting to look at.

I was just *spoon*ing appalled when that bustie fell out. And it wasn't the only one.

[Mohawk]

46 minutes ago, JKK said:

It's either I help her or the sharks help themselves to her. But it's well worth while just for the variety I'm getting to look at.

I was just *spoon*ing appalled when that bustie fell out. And it wasn't the only one.

And I'm *spoon*ing appalled hearing about it, and I don't even like US Coins!  But I do think that all collectible coins and artifacts are deserving of care and and respect.  I just don't understand why someone would choose to enter a pursuit and not take the time to do it right and care for your collectibles.  This guy clearly did none of this.  It baffles me when I think about how many people are out there that do similar things with coins though.  I can tell you some horror stories from the brick and mortar that are absolutely cringe-worthy!  A good example for me is the nearly complete set of Indian cents in one of those really old Whitman folders that said to clean your cents with an eraser......the collector followed that advice with AU Brown Indian cents, including the two S mint coins.  They had all received the old eraser treatment.  He didn't have an 1877, which is a good thing for those who love Indian cents.  The one that made me cry the most was a collector who brought in what would have been an amazing set of British crowns had they not been stored raw and rattling around in a box.  The one thing that this guy did do to attempt to care for these coins was take silver polish to them! .  That one was such a tragedy.....these were once high grade crowns that were all dinged up and polished into oblivion.

[Just Bob]

Try Numista. It has listings of many kinds of tokens. You might also try contacting Stephen Alpert or Steve Hayden. Alpert is an author (I hope he is still alive), and Hayden is a dealer, mostly in CWTs, but handles other types as well.

On that subject, the  coin world in general, and the token world in particular,  lost a friend and valuable resource when Rich Hartzog passed away a few years ago.He was a great source of information for all things exonumia.

TAMS, and NTCA are two other sources you might try.

I also found some book titles by a French author, and I have the address of a French  token collectors society, if you want to take it that far.

Edited June 5, 2019 by Just Bob