Ancient coins & Fantasy Brothel Tokens

Today I was reading the May issue of an ancient coin magazine called The Celator , edited by our friend in numismatics Kerry Wetterstrom, when I noticed a comment in the letters to the editor about Fantasy Brothel tokens. Seems an image of a Fantasy Brothel token must have slipped into an article on Quadrans in a previous issue and a diligent reader was writing to staighten things out. To me this was a strange coincidence, because another friend in numismatics, Stephen Alpert, just recently finished a catalog titled Fantasy Brothel Tokens. Stephen's book covers over 400 known fantasy brothel token issues from the 1960's to present day and includes 100 illustrations. Fantasy Brothel tokens have become a fun little collecting area, but some deceptive sellers on web auction sites can take the fun right out of it, especially if the buyer ends up thinking it's one of the very rare real brothel tokens and pays too much. Stephen's catalog should be a great tool in avoiding this problem, as it also offers rarity and value information for each fantasy type. I never expected to find a link between ancient coins and fantasy brothel tokens, but hey, my philosophy is, grab a little serendipity whenever you can!