As a collector, or hoarder as I'm referred to after forty-seven years at this thing, there have always been those coins which are only but a dream to one day hold in my hands. The 1804 dollar, the 1870 s quarter and so forth. Then there are those with low mintage totals, the 1916 d Mercury dime or the 1909 s VDB Lincoln, largely out of reach to most.  Even in grades of good or very-good 8 they are quite pricey, unappealing against the others within the series. Over the past few months I've shifted to similar coins, low mintage or low survival figures, that are by definition true rarities. Coins with mintages one-tenth that of the mentioned 1916 d dime for an astoundingly low price compared to that in a grade of about-good.  One coin in particular recently acquired in a perfect proof 70 ultra cameo for $264.00. The 2016 Winged Liberty.              Enjoy!

War tokens, as they were referred to when issued, have transformed into what the numismatic community calls Civil War tokens. While this title may be aptly appropriate given when they were struck, the subset category bearing merchant name or address seem to fall under the same.  Tokens bear a patriotic design, as shown in the first two images. Store cards, while the obverse may be similar to that of tokens, bear the merchant, his goods or services and an address. Being as both served the same purpose it is easy to understand the confusion.  Although many in the coin collecting hobby have heard of these, perhaps in their possession,  the focus of this weeks blog looks into the origin.         Enjoy!