"Arms of California" Gold Tokens posted by Cal Gold "Token" Guy

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Not all California Gold Tokens are created equal...

 

Back Again:

California Gold Tokens are not all the same. I like collecting the pieces called "Arms of California" tokens because the obverse looks like the California State Seal. Well, sort of. There is a seated figure of Minerva (although some of these tokens make her look like the Wicked Witch of the West). There are usually some mountains in the background, with ocean, boats, and usually a miner in the near background. There is usually a bear at Minerva's feet (although sometimes the bear looks like it has had a really bad day). It is actually quite amazing the detail and artwork which went into these little gold tokens !!

These tokens were generally made sometime between 1884 and 1910, often times in and around the San Francisco area. A number of the jewelers who made these pieces were the same folks who made the "real" California gold pieces (denominated pieces). Nathan Joseph was one such maker.

I started buying these tokens seven years ago and they tended to cost around $35.00 each; they cost a bit more now. Some of the prices asked are pretty "out there." As I mentioned in my earlier journal, some folks are asking $750.00 and $800.00 for these tokens - good luck with that. They should sell for around $100.00-$150.00 encapsulated in MS-62 to MS-64, in my opinion. Although, some types are quite rare and would demand significnatly higher prices.

I did send my collection of these tokens in to NGC for encapsulation; this makes them much easier to handle, although they do take up more room in the old vault, than did the old 2x2's. But many of them came back as MS-66 and MS-65 and so I was pretty happy. A few (but not many) got bent by NGC (fairly understandable since these are paper-thin, gold tokens). NGC does a good job with attribution of these tokens. Keep in mind that these tokens are really small, much smaller than a US dime. I dropped one once, still looking for it !!

To find out more about these California Gold Tokens, go to Mike Locke's Cal-Gold website. He identifies all the major varieties and discusses the rarity of each. His website is awesome; you can get lost in there for days.

Later. CGTG