interesting token inquiry

I recently found a neat token, and have been unable to find any information regarding it. I'm sure its not worth much, but I'd like to learn a bit about it. Can anyone help?

One side says "Eva's Dance Hall. Carson City, Nevada. Young Ladies for all Pleasures"

Flip side says "Good for 50cents in trade, whisky, tobacco or one screw"

I thought it rather humorous, just was curious of the history of it. Figured it must be relatively old, considering that you can't hardly get a sniff of tobacco or whisky for fifty cents. Was something like this common place a while ago?

Thanks!
Jason

 

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Well many tokens circulated in the old west as regular coinage was rare for most people. Often businesses would create little tokens for the needs of commerce.

If you can provide a little more info such as composition and size that would help a little. A pic would also be helpful.

 

These are usually half dollar size and made of bronze or brass plated steel. Most are crudely done with all incuse lettering and are collectively known as brothel tokens.

It is believed by many that all US brothel tokens are fantasy issues struck only in the last thirty to fifty years. There are a few, however, which appear to be real.

 

token pictures

sorry, I could not shrink the file, so I stored it on a web site.

http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/b910baa6/bc/Yahoo!+Photo+Album/7a3f.jpg?pfy2pgBB3bbjXtS7

http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/b910baa6/bc/Yahoo!+Photo+Album/40f8.jpg?pfJ4pgBBqyDPmUyQ

Hope this helps...

 

That site has restricted access and your photos are not viewable.

 

worked on my computers here, but here is an alternate solution.

http://www4.ncsu.edu:8030/~jbaucom/DSCN0673.JPG
http://www4.ncsu.edu:8030/~jbaucom/DSCN0672.JPG

 

Hello Jason, and welcome to CoinTalk. It's good to meet another member from my area of the country.

Again, this is a Fake/Fantasy Brothel token, and was never used in contemporary commerce.
It is a souvenir item, similar to ones that are sold in tourist traps and gift shops.

LINK(click here)

 

This token offers a good lesson in judging the age or legitimacy of a coin or token.

To me, the lettering is too modern – no where near as old as it would have to be to be real. Lettering styles in the US in the 1800s were radically different than that which is on this token. That reason alone tells me it is a fantasy piece.

Also, it was common to put a “.” after abbreviations, so on a real token from the old West I would expect to see “50 c.” not “50 c”.

These are just my personal observations.