Stack’s Bowers Galleries auctions bitcoin tokens

Collectors turned out for Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ latest Physical Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Auction over Labor Day weekend, pushing the sale to $676,984 in total prices realized. Combined with the $596,930 realized in the firm’s June auction of similar material, Stack’s Bowers Galleries has sold more than $1.27 million in physical Bitcoin tokens and cryptocurrency collectibles this summer. (All prices include the buyer’s fee.)

Leading the Labor Day sale was a 2012 Casascius “loaded” 1-Bitcoin token graded Mint State 68 by Professional Coin Grading Service, which sold for $91,500, nearly 15% (or $12,000)above the value in Bitcoin the token represented at the time of the auction.

Casascius Bitcoin tokens were created during the early years of cryptocurrency, containing access to actual Bitcoin values, recorded on material secured to the physical token. The tokens can be cashed in and the secure device removed, reducing their value. Tokens that retain their secured value are said to be “loaded.”

Surviving examples are collected both for their cryptocurrency value and as artifacts from that period in Bitcoin’s history. Several other pieces also brought strong prices in the Sept. 5 sale, including a 2013 Lealana 1-Bitcoin token which sold for $88,450 and a rare 2016 BTCC Poker Chip style  0.5-Bitcoin token which realized $43,920.