Communion Token Guidebook in Coinage Magazine

I was pleasantly surprised to see a full color review of the guidebook Communion Tokens in the January 2015 issue of Coinage magazine; the review was written by Mike Thorne, Ph.D. -- one of their regular contributors (and book reviewer). I spoke with him earlier in the year; he is a very interesting fellow who is also a psychologist. His numismatic writing is a natural extension of his coin collecting interests plus a distinguished career in textbook writing. In any case, it was quite an honor to have the CT guidebook featured along with other mainstream books -- on one side was David Bower's Buffalo Coins: America's Favorite, and on other side was Beth Deisher's Cash In Your Coins. The CT guidebook won a Numismatic Literary Guild award for Extraordinary Merit, so that is nice too.
     The book is still available from me on ebay at the list price of $14.95 with free shipping in the USA. If you are from overseas, you can get the book on Books123.org or from other large book distributors (e.g., Amazon).

Masthead from January 2015 Coinage Magazine
written by Mike Thorne, Ph.D.

     For a couple of months, the book was unavailable, as I did not renew the online book contract. Consequently, a few used book sellers stepped-in the marketplace -- one of them was offering the book for $1000 on Amazon. I hope no one needed it that bad! I like to think of this book as a gift to the collecting community: It was the book that I wanted to read, as there was nothing out there to get me started -- although, I must say that Brook has stood the test of time as a must-have guide with an excellent introduction.
     I still have about 15 books left (saving another five for gifts), so this guidebook is near the end of its run. There is no way to break even on this project, but at least I am over half-way there (my wife is happy about that). I encourage others (maybe some on the blog) to tackle a project like this. There are other books that could be (need to be) written on CTs -- personally, I would like to see a Top 100 Communion Tokens book with nice photos and church histories.
     I am working on a second CT book that will be more of a gazetteer that profiles regional variations and trends (a type set/varieties collecting approach) -- sort of a continuation of the CT by shapes idea. This will be a useful book (I hope) that aligns neatly with BK, K&L, and BZ. As before, the true reason for writing is to give me something fun to do. Nonetheless, this project is on-hold at the moment, as I am going off in a new direction right now -- that is why my user name has changed from Token Hunter to SCD. What can I say? The SCD reflects my love for relic coins and tokens -- and readers of this blog know that I particularly like the primitive, rough-hewn CTs.
     In the meantime, I think blog readers would like to hear about and see pictures of any new CTs you have acquired. The Market Watch postings have noted many nice pieces going to new homes -- Did you get one? As for me, I have a new one from New Kingston, NY that I will profile later this month -- I got it last year. It is a nice one: shiny, not primitive -- but it is a USA piece, and rare as such.