The Lighter Side of California Gold Tokens posted by Cal Gold "Token" Guy

[CSJournals-migration]

Not all California Gold Tokens had Liberty Head or Indian Head designs...

 

Some California Gold Tokens had a Washington Head obverse, some had a Hard Rock Miner obverse, and then there were those which were out there a bit.

 

Scarce to rare, this set of California Gold Tokens dealt with other topics: birds, moon and shooting stars, herons, the bust of a "Chinaman" and even a cherub (or cupid ?). This series tended to share a more-or-less common reverse, the date within a wreath (although the style of wreath did change with each obverse design).

 

Obviously, not made to pass as "real" California gold coinage, this series of tokens was made as charms and is now quite tough to find, expecially in nice (unholed) condition. Charms tended to acquire holes even to a greater degree than California denominated gold pieces (which were also heavily holed for jewelry). As an aside, it would be interesting to know what percentage of California Gold Tokens and Denominated pieces were actually damaged for use in jewelry.

 

Here is a recently acquired Cherub design token. Too bad it's not Valentines Day...

 

Later. Cal Gold "Token" Guy

 

See more journals by Cal Gold "Token" Guy

[coinsbygary]

I imagine these tokens were really attractive on a charm bracelet with 10 to 15 other token charms on a gold chain. Considering the pedigree you just described, I wouldn't necessarily consider the hole to be a detriment to owning this token that I find quite intriguing because of its pedigree.

Gary

[TD Henson]

I agree - quite an interesting piece and I agree with Gary - the hole really doesn't matter, especially considering it does virtually nothing to obstruct the piece.

 

Great piece and thanks for sharing.

 

Todd

[JAA]

United States Gold Dollars were another common raw material for jewelry. Due to their small size gold dollars were the perfect choice for "Love Tokens". "Love Tokens" were made by smoothing down one side of a Gold Dollar and re-engraving it with the initials of the recipient.

 

During the 19th century many gold dollars were defaced to make this popular gift item.