California Gold Miner Tokens - You Gotta Love Them !! posted by Cal Gold "Token" Guy

[CSJournals-migration]

These small California gold tokens made by Herman Brand in 1883 and 1884 are great to collect....

 

Howdy Again-

Just like I said in my last journal, some California Gold tokens like the "Arms of California" pieces have not been restruck or copied in modern times. The "miner" tokens made by Herman Brand of San Francisco in 1883 and 1884 are pretty unique. Brand was trying to get the US Secret Service off his case for making "counterfeit" gold coins, so he changed his designs completely to a hard rock miner on the obverse and a large letter "H" (half) or "Q" (quarter) on the reverse. He was sure that the Secret Service would approve these designs, as he wanted to manufacture them as souvenirs and bangles for sale. He was very surprised when the Secret Service still refused to allow him to make these pieces, as they could be confused with the US Gold Dollar (somehow).

But a number of these pieces were made and they are great fun to collect. They come up on ebay from time to time and are getting a lot more expensive. Some go for $400.00 and up (encapsulated and high MS). Even lower grade, raw pieces go for several hundreds of dollars now.

Mike Locke's Cal-Gold website is a great place to see these tokens and find out a bit more about them.

There are five basic types: 1883 round quarter-dollar-sized token; 1883 octagonal quarter-dollar-sized token; 1883 round half-dollar-sized token; 1883 octagonal half-dollar-sized token; and finally an 1884 octagonal half-dollar-sized token. Mike Locke has also identified several minor types within this series.

The problem with these tokens is that they are hard to find. So, one starts looking at other miner-themed coins and tokens (centennial celebrations, for example). This can get crazy as there are hundreds (more?) of these tokens and medals available.

That is one of the problems with collecting. I get bored when I can't find for sale what I am collecting, so I expand my collection to other things, and pretty soon, I am collecting anything that is round....or even octagonal.

Later. CGTG