........ ........ ..; III! iiiiiiil 111111111111111111111111111111 iii!IIII111i111111111111111111111111111imi. ~11111111111111111~111,11THE1!!11111111111,1,1,111,1,11,1111 fl!!! l ffIIIIIII I I .IIIIFAREI BOX for Transportation Token Collectors A Monthly News-Letter!!! X11111111111111111111111!111111111111!1,!!!!,1" ...° ° uuullu... !! 181111111 111118111111 NEW ISSUES EDITOR EDITOR ~•y~y~ •~~r •7•'u•, Pgl OlD V. FORD J. J4. COlIHU {R' P. 0. Box 961207 .. 43 hrroyo drive Boston. Hfassachusetts, 1Vloraga, California . 02196 .1207 04556 Now Issues Service Advertising Managers RND%N .R WILLIAM A. SOWELL ROSfl1fl SUWWS 2505 East Lake W .. iipt. 304 P. 0. Box 1235 I finneapolis, Minnesota Cathedral City. California 55406 92235-1235 --'- VOLUME 60, NUMBER 1 JANUARY 2006 OUR 703rd ISSUE DAVID 18ULLINS, APA #1398 Dave llfullins of Nashville died January 4 at age 66 after a four-month bout of Leukemia . An AVA member for 33 years, Dave was active, gregarious, and a gash friend to scores of people. His son Bill sends along the following about his Dad : "Dad was a token collector as long as I can remember . He mentioned once that he started when he was working at a Kroger's in Kentucky, and coal scrip would show up in the change drawer from time to time . This woulil have been about 1961 . Over the Bears he pursued strip, transportation tokens, video game tokens, elongated cents, zrennessee-relate d medals, andother exonurtia, as well as 11 .S . coins . But his constant interest was Eennessee trade tokens . He chased them for aver 40 years . "His tokens gave him great pleasure . He enjoyed putting together and having what mag he the largest 1ennessee collection extant, but he enjoyed even more going to flea markets, antique malls, metal detector clubs, and talking to the many people from whom he acquired the tokens . The tokens allowed him to pursue his real interest, and that was making friends all over . mang of you were part of that friendship . ".some have alreadg inquired as to what will became of his collection . Zhe family doesn't intend to he anything with it quickly, but if it is sold piecemeal or all at once, we'll try to notify intested collectors appropriately ." February 3 . I still have about ten copies left of the Nine-Year supplement to the Atwood-Coffee Catalogue . Price $6 including postage . There will not be a ten year supplement because the new 6th edition will be ready, I hope, by the end of the yea r . Although a site for the 2006 AVA Annual Convention is not yet firm, the dates of the convention as always will be the 2nd weekend in August : August 10-13 . San Antonio was mentioned at our last convention, or somewhere in the south central part of the country . On ebay recently was IN 1000 F, which I would've valued at about $25 . It fetched $316 .28 . 1 can't figure it . I don't own it, but I own a similar token, KS 1000 A, which I suppose would be worth about as much . Also on ebay O H 660 F and G fetched $7 .99 for the pair (they had some "cancer" on them . All the North Olmsted tokens are overpriced in our catalogue, judging from the plethora that has been shoved out on ebay the past year . A nice OR 800 A, with a $200 minimum, had no bids, so no sale . A nice token, but now only "scarce" instead of "rare" as it once was . i~rariS yiii -[ MYy~ r not free download from: www.vecturist.com -Page 2- -January 2006- OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN VECTURIST ASSOCIATION President William A . Sowell - P .O . Box 1235 - Cathedral City, California 92235-1235 Vice-President Bill Weber - 6758 KOA Drive - New Tripoli, Pennsylvania 18066-2419 Secretary Karl E . Gabsch - 2820 Scenic Meadow - Waldorf, Maryland 20603 Treasurer Joel J . Reznick - 13927 Wood Duck Circle - Bradenton, Florida 34204 Curator Keith M . Haney - 4614 Stonegate Way - Corpus Christi, Texas 78411-4829 Past President John M . Hoffman - 8334 Heron Circle - Ooltewah, Tennessee 37363 The above, and the Editor of THE FARE BOX, constitute the Executive Board PLEASE NOTE THAT ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE NOVEMBER ISSUE I GAVE JOEL REZNICK'S P .O . BOX NUMBER AS 2625 . IT SHOULD BE 2624 . A few other items of interest on ebay the past month . WI 330 A, always a very scarce item, fetched $72 on ebay . In two earlier AVA auctions it brought $144 and $112, respectively . I think the ebay price was a bargain . VA 580 D, a beautiful ancient vulcanite, fetched $305 on ebay, which is about right . IA 150 B, a barely scarce, but intriguing token because it looks like an Indian cent, realized $21 .50 on ebay . In 4 AVA auctions it fetched $8, $11, $12, and $12 .50, which are more real- istic values I would think . A real surprise to me is TX 2.25 A (Corsicana) and a ra- ther dirty specimen, has 6 bidders chasing it, top so far is $20 .01 . We list it at $1, obviously too low . And DC 500 U (cat . 254) has 6 bidders chasing it with a top of $6 .06, which is too high . I remember the day those plated DC tokens came out, for a fare hike to 3 for 35C (it had been 3/250), and I suppose the plating has worn off most of them by now, as it's been half a century plus . Also on ebay an unlisted Alaska token . No size or color or material was given . It appears to be blue printing on white plastic, same on both sides . The token seems to be about 35mm : ALASKA CAB CO . / (MAP OF ALASKA) / RIDE VALUE $5 But we don't know where it is from, or even if it was a regular issue . It could still be in use somewhere un there . It fetched a bit over $50, I believe, which I would say is on the high side of what I would price it . Boston had 100,000 of the gold-plated millennium tokens struck . They sold maybe a couple thousand (at $2 each, good for a $1 fare) . They are still valid for fare, and Bradley Clarke says he believes a few may exist without the plating . But where any of them--plated or not--are now, we have no idea . Recently Tommy Levesque, AVA 3152, sent along a generic carousel token that is now being used at the Solomon Pond Mail in Marlboro, MA . Token manufacturers, especially Hoffman Mint, have generic tokens with a stock "ride" inscription on one side, and either "No Cash Value" or a carousel horse on the other side . These would be less expensive for an operator of a facility than having his own die made . As such tokens might be in use in several places at the same time we try to list them under a "Non Local" rubric . Pictured below is the one Tommy sent me, with a car- ousel horse on one side, and "good for one carousel ride" on the other . Interesting that it bears the hh mintmark on the "ride" side, and the hm mintmark on the carousel side . The other token I've had for some time . It bears the hm mintmark on the "no cash value" side, and the hh mintmark on the "non refundable 1 ride token no cash value" side . This one is reproduced below to the right . free download from: www.vecturist.com -January 2006- -Page 3- NOVA SCOTIA TOKEN UPDATE By Randy Larsen I have thought several times about getting at the update for the Nova Scotia pages in the upcoming catalogue revision, but being the procrastinator I am, it got set aside . Yesterday I determined it had to get done . All tokens in Nova Scotia are now obsolete except for the tolls on the two Dart- mouth-Halifax bridges . The tokens currently in use are 100 S,Y,A C,AD . These cur- rent tokens are losing in popularity to the electronic scanner passes . One change that should be noted in the Class 5 which is commercial buses, except Metro Transit buses that are operated by non-profit organizations, such as seniors homes, the vet- erans Hospital, etc . travel on the Class 1 token . They chose to use the old obsolete 100 Y Class 2 token instead of having a new one struck for this purpose . Economical on their part, but cheated us out of a new issue at the time . Values : the five current in-use tokens I have changed to reflect the actual cost of the tokens (S 754, Y $2 .50, AB $1 .75) . The three early Canso Causeway tokens (NS 75 A,B,C) I feel should be in the $100 to $150 range due to their rarity and availability . The Halifax Steamboat token (450 A) should be in the $25 range . They are listed at $25 and up on ebay and always draw several bids above that . There is one dealer locally who will pay $40 for all he can get . The Dartmouth Ferry tokens (100 M,N,X) are now obsolete . The ferry opoeration has been taken over as part of Metro Transit and the tolls are now included as part of the Transit fare, with entry and exit controlled by paper transfer slips . As for New Brunswick, I do not know the current status on their tokens, except for the Saint John Bridge, which is still in use . I have no idea why the two different metals used in their tokens as they are both acceptable for the 254 toll . Prince Edward Island still has only two, those listed as Charlottetown 200 A,B .