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Message:: [QUOTE="SuperDave, post: 2412918, member: 1892"]Well, let's give you a bit more return for your educational investment. Genuine California Gold tokens of that era never include a bear. There are three major production types - first, the Period One "originals" produced between 1852-1882, which will always have "DOL," "DOLLAR," "DOLL" or "CENTS" on them. Second, the Period Two tokens produced by jewelers (and usually backdated) between 1882 and 1883 or so - these won't always have the previous words, because the Private Coinages Act (prohibiting private coinage) was passed in 1864 prohibiting any form of "Dollar" on non-US issue coins, and another law in 1883 (in response to the Racketeer Nickels) forced removal of the Liberty and Indian heads as they resembled circulating currency too closely. That led to the Period Three coins - only Herman Kroll is known to have produced "genuine" examples, I think, and some of his dies later fell into the hands of folks who then produced more-or-less quality fakes, some of which were of better gold assay than the originals. Only Period One coins actually circulated, but all three categories are considered collectible and the TPG's encapsulate them. None include a bear, as far as I know. The bear is an artifact of modern fakery.[/QUOTE]