Rarity

    Rarity is important because it is one of several factors affecting the price of a token. The rarity of Civil War Tokens is, at best, an educated guess based on the experience of collectors and scholars in the field. The Fulds have developed a scale that has been in use for more than fifteen years and ranges from R-1 (very common) to R-10 (unique--only one known). The complete rarity scale is presented below :

FULD RARITY SCALE
RARITY	ESTIMATED NUMBER IN EXISTENCE
R - 1	Greater than 5000 (Very Common)
R - 2	2001 to 5000
R - 3	501 to 2000
R - 4	201 to 500
R - 5	76 to 200
R - 6	21 to 75
R - 7	11 to 20
R - 8	5 to 10
R - 9	2 to 4 (1 to 4 for Sutler Tokens)
R - 10	1 Only (N/A for Sutler Tokens)

    This rarity scale is based on the assumption that about 1 million Civil War tokens are still in existence. Even if this is not a good estimate, the ratings will still have the same relative meaning. This is especially true of rarities of R-7 or higher, which are based on actual surveys of the largest collections still in existence and include most of the off-metals known.

    Rarity is a relative term. The total number of specimens of the most common varieties is less than the total number of 1909-S VDB Lincoln cents. However, since Civil War Token are far less sought-after by collectors, compared to the 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent, they sell for much less. Rarity defines supply, but collectors establish the demand.



Composition

    Civil War Tokens were struck in a variety of metals. The table below lists the code (for Store Cards), metallic abbreviation, and the metal composition :

CIVIL WAR TOKEN COMPOSITION
CODE	METAL ABBREVIATION	METAL COMPOSITION
a	C	Copper
b	BR	Brass
c	N	Nickel
d	C-N	Copper-Nickel
e	W-M	White Metal
f	S	Silver
g	L	Lead
h	R	Rubber
i	Z	Zinc
j	G-S	German Silver
k	G-T	Gilt
m	T	Tin
***	Spl	Silver plated
***	Zpl	Zinc plated

    The amateur collector often has great difficulty distinguishing between the various metals. The best solution to this problem is to consult a reputable dealer.

(Above information extracted from Fuld's)



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