As Civil War token collectors we have been frustrated by not being able to complete many series because one or more of the pieces are not available to collectors. The large cent collectors faced this same problem and they have solved it by designating extremely rare pieces as non-collectable. Collectors can then complete the collectable pieces and call the set complete without having all the pieces.

Heritage is currently selling the fabulous Adam Mervis Large Cent collection. It is advertised as a complete collectable set plus 35 of the 53 NC (non-collectable) varieties. If this set were Civil War Tokens it would be advertised as only missing 18 pieces from being complete. Why not have the glass half full instead of half empty?

The excellent Civil War Tokens book by Q. David Bowers which was released in August 2013 is almost sold out and heading to a second printing indicating the increase in popularity of Civil War tokens. Following the lead of the large cent collectors would make it easier for collectors to have a complete collectable set and then try to get as many NC (non-collectable) pieces as possible.

We would suggest the NC pieces be determined by the experts in the field and be limited to actual designs and ignore metal varieties because most collectors do not collect by metal variety. This same system could also be applied to patriotic Civil War tokens. Since we only have a small collection of patriotic CWTs, another expert can take the lead on them.