The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 17, April 29, 2007, Article 19

BLOG: ALAN BLEVIS ON U.S. CIVIL WAR TOKENS

Ephemera dealer Marty Weil published a nice, lengthy entry on his 
'ephemera' blog this week interviewing Alan Bleviss on the collecting 
of U.S. Civil War Tokens.

"Alan Bleviss, a voice-over actor based in Canada, is the President of 
the Civil War Token Society. Alan provided a wealth of information 
about Civil War tokens in the following interview.

"ephemera: How did you become interested in Civil War tokens?

"Bleviss: In late 1994, I bid and won a small collection of coins at 
the auction. Attempting to do some research, I discovered it was a Civil 
War Patriotic token. I began frequenting local coin shows and asking if 
they had Civil War tokens, but typical response was either 'no' or 'I 
used to have a very fine collection of white metal ones, but sold them 
long ago.' This peaked my interest. 

"Several years into my collecting of these tokens, I met a dealer who 
asked if I had anything for sale. Upon explaining that I did not wish 
to retain my coins, he purchased all the things I had lost interest in. 
Those funds became my base for acquiring my present collection, which 
numbers almost 4,000 different varieties.

"One short note of importance, the shop keepers accepted each others 
tokens. When I began collecting, I thought to collect one of each variety, 
but that is a task never completed by anyone and is just impossible, 
when some are simply unique, one of a kind. Now, I attempt to obtain at 
least one of each merchant, and if a variety is available which I do not 
have at a reasonable price, I will attempt to obtain it as well. The 
fact that a token is unique means the price is as well. Some merchants 
had thousands of tokens struck and some just a few. There exists a 
merchant from Detroit, Dr. I.C. Rose whose token reads TREATS ALL CHRONIC 
FEMALE & VENEREAL DISEASES, DETROIT, it had to be advertising!" 

To read the complete blog entry, see:  Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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