Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 9/11/2007

Question
Hello I was left a large  VERY LARGE assortment of coins from my father in law and I am going through them.  I know a bit about US coins but the bulk of what he has is odd tokens and British coins and British colonial coinage (most of which countries that no longer exist) from the 1800 - 1960's.   I found what looks like a copper penny in prisint condition VF or better and is says "Union for Ever" on one side and has a picture on the other side.  there is also a bar and shiels on the side of the union forever.  any ideas what this is and or where I could research what it is?  Also he has a token that is very inteesting it is a newbro luck coin and has a horshoe and some numbers and dice and says tuxedo club pomade on it and then lastlyis a token that has a picture of the USS Constellation on it and on the obverse says it was struck with parts of the USS Constellation when it was scrapped.  ANy ideas if these coins are worth anything or worth keeping etc?  He has a complete set of the United Nations commemorative coins that I am going to keep as they are silver and gold etc I do not know if they have collectable valuable but the melt value is good alone on them.  Any thoughts would be appreciated and if you know of a testing product or testing equipment to test for precious metal content I would love to hear about it as he has a lot of coins that look to be gold or silver.  I have found over 50 gold sovereigns and gold or silver crowns and there are thousands more to go through and I have no idea what they are or what they are worth.  Thanks in advance for any consideration or advice you can give me.
Dana Fitrakis

Answer
Dana, there's a lot in your question.  The Union for Ever is what is known as a patriotic Civil War Token.  They were made when money became unavailable during the civil war, mostly in 1863 as a substitute for money.  They featured patriotic themes (like Union for Ever).  George Fuld cataloged them and gave them catalog numbers and there is a Civil War Token Society.  Go to www.ebay.com and do a search for civil war token and you'll see quite a few for sale, maybe even one like yours.  The common pieces in nice circulated condition sell for $20 or so, the uncommon pieces for more.

I do not know about the other tokens you describe.  Again, searches on www.ebay.com (the Internet garage sale) will often show comparable pieces for sale.  I don't know how to tell different metals.  Gold is worth at least gold value, which today is $720 per ounce.  Silver is at $12.79 per ounce.  If your collection is very large and valuable and it sounds like it might be, it might be worth hiring an expert (usually a coin dealer) and paying an hourly rate for an expert opinion and appraisal from someone who you will not be selling anything to.  You must of course find someone knowledgeable.  Jim Lawniczak