Huh Arcade Tokens Selling For More Than Silver?

to the Community!

Your post was moved to the appropriate forum for the proper attention.

People are looking for cheaper alternatives.

Arcade tokens are now, essentially, obsolete - the few arcades that still exist don't use tokens any more, they just use swipe cards or some other electronic payment. So the "Arcade token series" has now effectively ended.

It also means these tokens are no longer functinoal objects, but are now historic artifacts in their own right. And the kids who grew up using them in the token heyday of the 1980s, and have nostalgic memories of them, are now in their semi-retirement age bracket and have time and money to spend on their nostalgic hobbies.

Finally, tokens are "cheaper than coins", so it's much easier to build up a large and interesting collection of tokens. Token prices have long been in the doldrums, far below their rightful place, and this is largely because of the perception that tokens were "cheap and common" and therefore unworthy of the attention of a "true collector". Even here in Australia, I am aware that Chuck-e-Cheese tokens have long been the butt of jokes not just in the collecting fraternity, but in the broader American society.

Traditional mainstream coin collecting will always be more popular than exonumia collecting. Many coin collectors do not actively collect tokens, but most token collectors are coin collectors as well. If the tokens seem to be selling more than coins these days, it's probably simply because coin prices are perceived as being high right now, so people are waiting for prices to come down again - or for inflation to catch up.

Or in other words, those people who are coming into your shop, bypassing the coins and buying tokens, they are saying "I can't afford those coins right now, but since I'm here, I'll see if there are any cheap tokens for sale". If you stopped selling them those tokens, most of those people would simply walk away without buying anything from you that day. So you're not "hurting" mainstream coin collecting in doing so. Indeed, you're encouraging them to remain in the broader "numismatic" community, because if someone can't find anything you want to collect in your local coin store, they might just give up on numismatics altogether and go off and buy baseball cards or toy cars or something else they're nostalgic about.