A note on British Token pricing.

Prices for most American coins are derived from excellent contemporary books, guides and literature. Auctions are frequent and a number of auction houses archive past sales data. Similar resources are available for many non ~ American coins, some quite extensive. Recent publications notwithstanding, no current comprehensive pricing information exists for 18th Century British Trade Tokens. 

I have endeavored to maintain a library of past auction sales as well as retail price lists. I am certain that others have done the same. Over time as identical pieces are offered for sale it is possible to extrapolate a reasonable value. But not always. Some tokens have not appeared for quite some time and, in the case of auctions, two interested bidders can push the price of a desirable piece beyond what may be expected otherwise. The converse is also true. The number of bidders at a specific auction is far less that the universe of collectors and it is not unusual for a lot to sell under retail.

I do my best to keep up-to-date sales records. This historical data considered along with strike quality, surface, luster, color, and eye appeal, grade (wear), rarity, and prevalent market conditions, will thus determine a current price.

Theoretically a grade is a representation of the physical wear (or lack thereof) on an item whether coin, token, banknote, or book. In the United States numerical grades seem to prevail with numbers corresponding to descriptive phrases; uncirculated at 60 and above; almost uncirculated at 50 to 58, and so on. This has not fully caught on in England and the terms “uncirculated” and “almost uncirculated” are not often used. Most likely you will find descriptive grading such as “a few minor marks otherwise extra fine with much original color”. In the states, the coin might be considered choice red uncirculated.

I would not be the first person to suggest that when dealing in British material then British standards of grading should prevail. There is much to be said for this. However, I do work with material from all over so, for internal consistency, you may rely on the following definitions as they apply to my grading standards.

Uncirculated (Unc): No wear. Period. A coin may be toned, stained, spotted, abused or brilliant, but there can be no wear. This applies to cabinet friction, as well. By definition a coin may never have circulated (hence uncirculated) but the friction generated by sliding around in a coin tray for a while has produced slight wear on the high points. The key word is ‘wear’ and thus will not be called uncirculated.

Almost Uncirculated (AU): I’ve occassionally had a problem with referring to something as being almost something that it’s not. For the sake of convention if I call a coin AU it has only the very slight indication of wear somewhere, or perhaps simply cabinet friction. Most likely though I will describe a coin as gEF or EF.

Extra Fine (EF): All major and minor detail is intact and there is just the slightest wear on the high points of the coin. I’m also fond of calling a coin good Extra Fine (gEF) or about Extra Fine (aEF). This holds true for Very Fine.

Very Fine (VF): Here, all major and minor detail will be intact but there is evident wear on both high and low points of the coin. Good Very Fine (gVF) and about Very Fine (aVF) also apply.

Fine (F): Considerable wear will be evident on all points. Some minor detail may be lost. All wording should be readable. Good Fine (gF) and about Fine (aF) may also be used.

Very Good (VG): Heavy wear. Details still visible; wording may be visible but not necessarily readable. Rims should still be intact. At this point you will be hard pressed to get me to refer to a coin as good Very Good. It’s just not going to happen. About Very Good (aVG) is a possibility, but unlikely.

Good (G): Substantial wear. The major design elements may be outlined but details are missing. Lettering may be worn into the rim; rims may be incomplete in spots.

About Good (AG or aG): Very heavy wear. Part of lettering, date, and legends may be worn smooth.

Fair (Fair): The term Fair is generally used in British grading to describe coins that the American system evaluates as Good or Very Good. That is, Fair is applied to coins that are considered less than Fine. Because of evident confusion I will not be using this term.

Poor (Poor): Basal state. Coin is identifiable but that may be all.

I do not personally assign numerical grades to coins whether circulated, or not. For comparison, however, a 60 coin must be uncirculated; nice uncirculated may refer to 62; choice uncirculated, 63 – 64; gem uncirculated, 65 – 66; superb uncirculated 67 and beyond.

After a coin is graded for wear as above it is evaluated and described based upon a variety of other factors including, strike, surface, luster, color, and eye appeal. Imperfections will be noted. I happen to be fond of die states, failing and/or fractured dies, multiple strikes, and the occasional planchet flaw, and am quite enamored by lustrous brown or bronzed copper. Neither does lacquering particularly annoy me. If contemporary, it is representative of collecting and storage practices of the time. Others may find such characteristics problematic and to a great degree, it is individual standards that dictate collecting habits. In the end, one might suspect that reason will prevail, and should you just not like the coin for any reason, you are encouraged to send it back.