New Find but is it real ?

We headed out this morning to hit a couple of sales and I found this coin along with four others. The owner wanted $1 each so I bought them. Help how do you know if they could be real and if they are not. If I read it right they are called California tokens and there are real ones out there and there are fakes, So help !

 

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Five bucks is a pretty good deal for a lesson learned. Not close to real.

 

It's a genuine California token...it's just not a genuine GOLD California token.

 

You can tell by comparing them to real coins, but the cartonish nature of the artwork is a dead give away, as is the low price you paid.

 

Yes, looks like it came from a box of Cracker Jack! (do they still make that?)

 

A modern fantasy. A few points to keep in mind are that the originals generally had the denomination listed on them, they did not use the bear motif and they weren't nearly so round and neatly struck.

 

The originals did have "cartoonish" details though. Some crudely made dies on those gold fractionals. It wasn't for arts sake, but for medium of exchange.

 

OP, California gold has been faked just about the most I can think of. I bet the percentages of fake versus real coins might be 50-1 in favor of the fakes, and I bet I am low. The only way I would ever advise anyone wanting to own one of these is a certified example, just like a NE coin, a 1916d dime, etc.

I understand you wanting an answer, since the piece is purporting to be a California gold piece. I hope you got informational answers here and are now better informed. You are lucky, a lot of people have paid $200 for the same mistaken belief.

 

Yes and still give away prizes , just last year I got two round trip air fare tickets Gotcha!

 

Yes, but the prizes have gotten cheaper.

 

Some members here really enjoy getting drinks spit all over my monitor, and I'm getting sick of it!

 

Oh well sorry if you don't want to have another accident don't read the replies I gave him last night. About flying as he afraid of flying he's also has a issue being beheaded. Don't know what travel brochures he's looking at but I think if you stay away from Northern Iraq and some islands in the south Pacific you're pretty safe.
But must admit as a shrunken head on a rear view mirror of a classic car appeals to me a lot more then being worm food. Heck I'm a 60 ' s child watched quite a bit of tv.
I still sing see the USA in a Chevrolet . .....

 

Yeah but the pop corn kernels still get stuck in your teeth...
A snack for later....

 

You know looking at the specimen again I think it's a half pig token. That's All Folks....

 

Still have some of my prizes but they also are not 10 cents a box anymore.

 

I hope to God .... you're not talking Chinese Counterfeits?
Oh well back to Crunch & Munch...... no prizes but it's made in the good old US of A out of generic modified corn.
Or did they switch to re textured herring substitute?

 

Have I've been a time warp? No longer a dime????
OMG! You mean they are getting 15 cents now?

 

Church & Munch? Well I guess you can be sure it's not Chinese, anyway. Presbyterian, maybe.

 

I love smart phones and tablets spell check. I removed it off my work phone as another employee sent a pretty dicey e mail that turned them very red faced. Thinking spelling error is a lot easier to explain .

 

Chinese Counterfeits? Where! I'm getting paranoid again