Just a fantasy token...but cool!

[digger27]

A few on E Bay and on a few other sites but not many.
Ridiculous prices listed for most of them, from 25-$35, one even sold for over $25 to somebody slightly more clueless than me.
Large, brass and not really authentic, more like a souvenir, but it still might be a little rare because I can't find any post about this particular piece on any forum, and no info about it on the net, either.

Love digging coins and jewelry, digging neat odd and different types of targets in the meantime is is also cool.

 

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[park pirate]

Cool token...

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Excellent token, great detail!

 

[digger27]

Ok, found a bunch more info.
This might be way cooler than I thought at first...
Late attorney collected photos of prostitutes, lynchings, KKK | 9news.com


Thanks to member on another forum who clued me in big time and led me to do more research, this thing just 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.


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.

 

[Higgy]

That's a wicked-cool token, D27! Very nice!

 

[cjon455]

Pretty neat token, very unique

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs.

 

[bzbadger]

Digger I would think one possible way of telling if it's a fake and of course by no means is this a guarantee is how deep was the token buried when you found it. I should think since it wasn't until this man's later years that he was counterfeiting them that if your token was buried deep it would be a sign it's real. Just a thought. I do like finding the odd tokens more than coins, they made millions of coins and tokens tend to have more character. JMO

 

[treblehunter]

Very cool

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Hey! Great token!!

I found one about 5 years ago for the "China Doll"

Whats crazy, is I have looked on Ebay before to see how much the real ones go for...and they all seem a little cheap

Where there actually tokens like this back in the day?

 

[digger27]

Digger I would think one possible way of telling if it's a fake and of course by no means is this a guarantee is how deep was the token buried when you found it. I should think since it wasn't until this man's later years that he was counterfeiting them that if your token was buried deep it would be a sign it's real. Just a thought. I do like finding the odd tokens more than coins, they made millions of coins and tokens tend to have more character. JMO

This thing was found in a park here in Kansas, actually in an area of grass between some soccer fields and a ball field.
I have been hitting this thing hard, lately, mostly around the soccer fields looking for jewelry and so far no gold but 2 rings and 2 earrings all silver have popped up.
Also a ton of coins including dimes, nickels and quarters galore.
I have found about $15 worth of just quarters so far in just a few hunts.
All of these coin and jewelry targets, all the trash too, has all been from shallow to the deepest maybe 4" in depth.
This thing, however, was 2 to 3 inches deeper than all of them.
Mine also has been holed, none of the others I have seen on the net have a hole.
Definitely not an authentic saloon token, either a fantasy souvenir or a fake ripoff.
My hope is that someday I will find proof it is a fake...it would be much more interesting if it was.

 

[idahotokens]

All of the incused tokens like this are modern-made. See Exonumia:Tokens, medals, badges, fraternal, World Fair, MORE! and the fakes and fantasies section. Yes, there were real brothel tokens, but they generally did not come right out and say that.
John in the Great 208

 

[CRUSADER]

Funny piece...