My dancing bears have arrived! 1850 California Gold Mines Token
Wil1858
Posts: 53 ✭✭✭
...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
48
Comments
Very cool!!!
I like your dancing bears! Hope to see you around more often ....... Happy New Year
Cool, normally a bear is the last thing you want to see on a California fractional.
Hideous bears, but still a cool token!
I like it! Cool EAgle on the rev, too
I like it too! Very nice.
@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.
Nice!
I just looked up some info on these and Kagin indicates these may have been struck by William Lemme of San Francisco.
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
Nice! Dancing bears are cool...thanks for posting.
K
Very nice, what's not to like!
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.
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Cool token.
Joseph J. Singleton - First Superintendent of the U.S. Branch Mint in Dahlonega Georgia
Findley Ridge Collection
About Findley Ridge
Thanks for the feedback everyone! I’ve another treat coming my way soon. I’ll share that too.
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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
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC FOR SALE
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.
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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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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC FOR SALE
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.
Bump
This one was sold by Steve Hayden earlier this year.
cool token
1-19-26 (two days)
That’s a cool token! I got excited though expecting this.....
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
I like that piece!
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
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC FOR SALE
Great info Stef!
Even with published references, finding info on some of these pieces can be hard to come by.
very nice ... congratulations !!
Top 10 Cal Fractional Type Set
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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.
Interesting that these Dancing Bears tokens were popular on this forum for a couple of years and then nothing!
My guess is they're truly rare and htf, I just placed one of mine on the bay to see if there was any interest, oh on Cointalk nobody seems to be familiar with them at all. Anyways, had mine graded, here's a pic and what's truly fascinating about these is they were made by Christoph Lauer or his Father. Apparently Lauer made quite a few tokens and medals for California, see pic and the fascinating part is he was from Nuremberg, Germany, amazing! Could be he came to the US or he did a ton of letter writing, either way, he's a famous man today! 
@fretboard . I have been collecting for 57 years without knowing there was such a thing as "the Dancing bears". Thanks for posting, it is a strange but alluring token. James
Really Neat Piece
Wes Brush/CAC Man Numismatist
"Dancing Bears" is the name that coin collectors gave this design. Unless you believe bears are into ballroom dancing, it's reasonable to conclude the design was intended to portray two bear fighting.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Never heard of this interesting issue before, thanks for sharing!
Having been ballroom dancing a few times the idea isn't as out of the real of possiblity the way you might think. James
Good to see y'all ran across my post here, yeah this is one of my favorite California tokens and it's truly a rare one. Happy to find a coin forum where some appreciate it!
it is much appreciated. there is a mystique with tokens of that time
Africa doesn't have bears so the locals have to improvise:
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