My dancing bears have arrived! 1850 California Gold Mines Token

Wil1858

...some may say more like dancing weasels, but hey 😀 I like it !

PCGS MS 63 cross from a NGC MS 64

1850 K-1 California Gold Mines, Gilt Copper

No Headlights

Very cool!!!

Paradisefound

I like your dancing bears! Hope to see you around more often ....... Happy New Year

Smudge

Cool, normally a bear is the last thing you want to see on a California fractional.

Akbeez

Hideous bears, but still a cool token!

kaz

I like it! Cool EAgle on the rev, too

AlexinPA

I like it too! Very nice.

Zoins

@Wil1858 Awesome California Gold Mines piece! It looks very flashy!

Stefanie, @coinsarefun, has one as well that's been posted here.

I was the underbidder on this ex-Ford piece back in 2014.

I think Stef and yours may be the same variety with "L" initial under the right bear. The Ford specimen has the "L" under the left bear.

CaptHenway

Nice!

Zoins

I just looked up some info on these and Kagin indicates these may have been struck by William Lemme of San Francisco.

ricko

That is a great token... Gold and interesting design - both obverse and reverse. I once saw two large male grizzlies fighting at the Seattle zoo.... and they looked just like that... It was more like a quarrel than a real fight...no blood drawn, just some fisticuffs .. or is that 'pawticups'... Cheers, RickO

ElKevvo

Nice! Dancing bears are cool...thanks for posting.

K

fastfreddie

Very nice, what's not to like!

oih82w8

We used to have a "fat boy/girl" program when I was active duty for those who could not pass thier annual Physical Training Assessment...it was called "The Dancing Bears"...also know as "Step Aerobics".

I prefer the gold kind.

JJSingleton

Cool token.

Wil1858

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I’ve another treat coming my way soon. I’ll share that too.

coinsarefun

@Zoins said:
@Wil1858 Awesome California Gold Mines piece! It looks very flashy!

Stefanie, @coinsarefun, has one as well that's been posted here.

I was the underbidder on this ex-Ford piece back in 2014.

I think Stef and yours may be the same variety with "L" initial under the right bear. The Ford specimen has the "L" under the left bear.

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Just saw this thread now as I was researching other Calif. gold tokens.
Congrat's to the OP and yes Zoins, they are the same variety

Broadstruck

Different obverse die on the two examples posted as the bears are different.

If you look the rounding of their rear thighs.

On the OP True-View example the bear on the right has a rounding in on the rear thigh and the left bear is straight bodied.

On the example in the black template the bear on the left has a rear thigh that's rounding and the right bears thigh is straight.

coinsarefun

@Zoins said:
I just looked up some info on these and Kagin indicates these may have been struck by William Lemme of San Francisco.

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I just ran across this [TAMS online article]http://archive.org/details/tamsjournal1262toke/page/7 "TAMS online article")

They state the L is for Lauer.
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Zoins

@coinsarefun said:

@Zoins said:
I just looked up some info on these and Kagin indicates these may have been struck by William Lemme of San Francisco.

.
.
.
I just ran across this [TAMS online article]http://archive.org/details/tamsjournal1262toke/page/7 "TAMS online article")

They state the L is for Lauer.
.
.
.

That makes a lot of sense given that Ludwig Christian Lauer of Nuremburg is known for making many other game counters. Does the "L" mintmark show up on any of Lauer's other pieces? It looks like these are German designed and German made as well.

Zoins

Bump

This one was sold by Steve Hayden earlier this year.

silverpop

cool token

SiriusBlack

That’s a cool token! I got excited though expecting this.....

Jimnight

I like that piece!

coinsarefun

Thanks for the update and price realized. It helps quite a bit for research.
Over several years of researching them I don’t quite agree with the rarity of 8
I saw 4 come to auction Over the last year plus the one you show. So whatever 8 is
I would say they are quite rare but not super rare. But as far as end graded examples
are another thing. It is quite rare to find them in nice high collectible grades.

I’m still very happy with mine

Zoins

@coinsarefun said:
Thanks for the update and price realized. It helps quite a bit for research.
Over several years of researching them I don’t quite agree with the rarity of 8
I saw 4 come to auction Over the last year plus the one you show. So whatever 8 is
I would say they are quite rare but not super rare. But as far as end graded examples
are another thing. It is quite rare to find them in nice high collectible grades.

I’m still very happy with mine

Great info Stef!

Even with published references, finding info on some of these pieces can be hard to come by.

calgolddiver

very nice ... congratulations !!

fretboard

@Zoins said:
I just looked up some info on these and Kagin indicates these may have been struck by William Lemme of San Francisco.

Yes I've read the same thing but then I read they were struck by Laurer of Nuremberg above! Here's mine, I think I'll stick to William Lemme as I find it hard to believe that Lauer would focus on California since he was located in such a far away country.