Neat token...

DIGGER27 · Feb 14, 2015

More info and history about this thing in my post #11 below....

Still hitting the areas in a park and mostly the sidelines and walking paths around several soccer fields looking for jewelry.
Still picking up an unusual amount of quarters at this site.

"Every time I think I am out those quarters pull me back in..."

No gold yet, but still looking and also every high tone could be some kind of silver jewelry item and there are a lot of them here.
Yesterday only a short hunt, the total is in the pic below.
A few more nickels, a piece of junk jewelry, a bullet and this large brass token that was actually a few inches deeper than the other targets.
Thought it was a knockout plug at first till I rubbed it and saw some letters appearing, then I thought maybe a cattle tag of some sort till I saw what it actually read.
A little tumbling cleaned it up nicely.

Doing research I discovered this is a fantasy token, not a real saloon/casino token issued long ago but a souvenir type and it still might have a bit of age on it due to the depth I found it.
I have seen a couple on E Bay for sale and one or two on a few other auction sites but not many at all and none of the others are holed like mine.
Most of them are listed at the $25-$35 price range, at least one actually sold for a bit more than $25 to some poor schnook..."a sucker born every minute".
Mine is going in the display case or maybe a token display I will make one day and is worth more than $25 to me as a conversation piece.
Can't find it yet on tokencatalog.com, I wish I could nail down an actual manufacturing date or any more info on this thing so if anyone knows anything else please let me know.
For now it is just another cool non coin or jewelry target that I am glad I had a chance to dig.

msand · Feb 14, 2015

Nice. Wish the ground was not so cold here, I am itching to get back out.

DIGGER27 · Feb 14, 2015

msand said:
Nice. Wish the ground was not so cold here, I am itching to get back out.

We are lucky and the snow has mostly stayed away this winter and we have had some unusually warm days that stay around long enough to unfreeze the soil.
We actually do need some more moisture and I am sure we will pay for the lack of snow this year but I can't worry about that and I am glad I can still hunt...in between the blasts of polar cold air that come in every few days.
Please feel free to live vicariously through those of us that can still get a hunt in here and there.
I will do what I can to keep you entertained.

RVS · Feb 14, 2015

Real nice

matmit · Feb 14, 2015

That's cool, I would take the "screw" :lol:

GroundSweeper · Feb 14, 2015

Pretty cool find there Digger :thumbsup:

Stevo · Feb 15, 2015

Cool token! I'd be happy to find it.

Mr Mud · Feb 15, 2015

I was just in Cripple Creek a couple of weeks back. For those of you who are not familiar with Colorado, Cripple Creek is an old mining tow above Colorado Springs. It is now a gambling town. I use to go there all the time as a child when it was just hanging on to survive. Cool token.

T-Man · Feb 15, 2015

matmit said:
That's cool, I would take the "screw"

As requested. :laughing:

WildDigger · Feb 15, 2015

That is very cool. Love the token.

DIGGER27 · Feb 15, 2015

http://archive.9news.com/news/artic...collected-photos-of-prostitutes-lynchings-KKK

Thanks to member ThriceChex who clued me in big time, this thing might have a pretty cool history...and a checked past.

There was an attorney called Fred Mazzulla born in 1903 in Colorado that was a huge collector of a lot of things and many about the old west.
He was kind of shady, one thing he would do is he would steal authentic old west photos when he was a contest judge, keep them for his collection and replace them with copies which he gave back to the original family owners.

This is another scam he pulled, I assume in the 60's when he published this book and might give me an actual age range on this fake thing.

"Mazzulla and his wife, Jo, published several small history booklets which were sold at roadside stops across the state. One, called "Brass Checks and Red Lights," was about Colorado's prostitution industry, and told of brass tokens that were used in the bawdyhouses to pay for various prostitution services. The tarnished old tokens carried such phrases as "good for one screw." Some of them can still be found at Denver antique stores. Family members claim the tokens were genuine, but coin collectors say the tokens were phony. In fact, one of Mazzulla's close friends says she and Mazzulla used to special order the brass tokens from a firm in Chicago. Mazzulla would then "age" the coins by wrapping them in sheets of newspaper and soak them in vinegar. He then sold the tokens for $10 apiece."

He produced many different kinds of these small pamphlets and booklets that he sold with different subjects about local history.
As time went on it became known that neither he nor his wife wrote most of these books, he just ripped off the information and research from other writers.

Real saloon tokens would offer some money off or free drinks, the cost of that other service would never have been a free offer so the experts say that any tokens that say that are always one of two types...Fantasy or Fake.

Fantasy tokens are made and sold as novelties, fake tokens are made to rip off people and this just might be one of his because it mentions Colorado.

The ones he made are not even counterfeit, just figments of his imagination.
Way cool!
Like a Henning Counterfeit Jefferson Nickel, I think I would much rather have a fake like this than the real thing because of the notoriety.

SWKDigger · Feb 15, 2015

That is really cool Digger and some great information provided by ThriceChex. I agree, I would rather have these quasi-tokens than a real one considering the history. I do love tokens though, they tell a great history.

You are having a stellar 2015. Congrats.

NWLuke · Feb 15, 2015

That's pretty awesome, a counterfeit of a fake token! I saw video on Youtube where a guy found a counterfeit Washington quarter, the silver gilt was flaking off, it was obviously fake and the guy was just kind of eh about it. I was thinking man, I'd make that the centerpiece of my collection! Anybody can put enough time in an find a silver quarter but how many people find counterfeits?

DIGGER27 · Feb 15, 2015

SWKDigger said:
That is really cool Digger and some great information provided by ThriceChex. I agree, I would rather have these quasi-tokens than a real one considering the history. I do love tokens though, they tell a great history.

You are having a stellar 2015. Congrats.

NWLuke said:
That's pretty awesome, a counterfeit of a fake token! I saw video on Youtube where a guy found a counterfeit Washington quarter, the silver gilt was flaking off, it was obviously fake and the guy was just kind of eh about it. I was thinking man, I'd make that the centerpiece of my collection! Anybody can put enough time in an find a silver quarter but how many people find counterfeits?

Thanks!
Sometimes the most innocuous find could turn out to be a real great thing.

I am not positive this was made by Mazzulla, until I find some actual info with a picture of this thing with his name attached to it I might not ever know, but with a very famous town in Colorado history stamped into it I think this is exactly the kind of fake a guy like this would produce for a quick and easy sale so for now I will lean toward that way of thinking.

Cherry Picker · Feb 15, 2015

Love finding tokens. Looks like a good one.

Neat token...

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