Slave tag

[DoranHashemi]

Old man showed us this. I almost fainted. Looks like a slave tag. He said it was. He's been detecting for 30 years and found this in South Carolina Any experts?

 

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[mical66]

nice find then

The Slave Hire Badge posted at the beginning of this thread is by all appearances, noting the details of lettering, size, shape, numbers, composition, and soil patina, an authentic CHARLESTON badge issued in 1823, for the occupation of MECHANIC. This would be a copper badge made by John Joseph Lafar, a noted Charleston silversmith and should carry the LAFAR punch mark directly below the year date. The point on fake and fantasy "slave tags" is they almost always get the details wrong in at least a few areas, if not more. From my experience in personally recovering these pieces of history, as well as viewing many authentic Charleston Slave Hire Badges, my consensus is this one is indeed authentic.

CC Hunter

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

My elderly and temporarily road-fatigued brain forgot to include the photo of FAKE slave-tags I mentioned in my previous post. Here's the photo. It shows some of the many variations of fakes.

Besides being an incorrect shape, some of these have an incorrect lettering-style. None of the genuine slave-tags have non-serifed ("plain block") lettering. For anybody here who doesn't already know the difference between serifed letters and "plain block" letters, compare the lettering on the Kings Farm one with the Mobile one. But remember, all four in the photo are fakes.

Anytime a relic is worth $1,000+ (or even $100), some people are going to come out the woodwork to manufacture fakes of it. Collectors must learn to identify the fakes in whatever subject-area of relics they collect.

 

[kuger]

I recall seeing a "RAT TRAPPER"...being a "Trapper",that one stuck with me as a INCREDIBLE piece to have....I am assuming that one must have been fake?

 

[Tnmountains]

Everything pertaining to the original topic has made this a very informative read. A lot of good information has been gathered here. Thank you for all the expertise and the original poster. I learned a lot!
HH

 

[DoranHashemi]

And hopefully this Sunday i'll see it and post a pic of the back. Thanks for everyone's response and keep'em coming! And just as a reminder he dug this out of deep clay in charleston

 

[CC Hunter]

My elderly and temporarily road-fatigued brain forgot to include the photo of FAKE slave-tags I mentioned in my previous post. Here's the photo. It shows some of the many variations of fakes.

Besides being an incorrect shape, some of these have an incorrect lettering-style. None of the genuine slave-tags have non-serifed ("plain block") lettering. For anybody here who doesn't already know the difference between serifed letters and "plain block" letters, compare the lettering on the Kings Farm one with the Mobile one. But remember, all four in the photo are fakes.

Anytime a relic is worth $1,000+ (or even $100), some people are going to come out the woodwork to manufacture fakes of it. Collectors must learn to identify the fakes in whatever subject-area of relics they collect.

Gathering knowledge from reputable sources, reading reference books, and gaining an education in the real deal is most beneficial in spotting the many dubious and phony products that taint the collecting world.


There are Fake items, and then there are Fantasy items. To better understand the difference and hopefully shed further light in proper identification of items, I would like to politely clarify if I may. The photo examples posted for reference by Professor Cannonball Guy, are actually in fact "Fantasy Slave Tags". A fake slave tag may appear at first glance to be correct in nearly all the details, and can be quite the dangerous item to unknowing collectors, with many features such as city (CHARLESTON), number, occupation, and year, quite similar to an authentic specimen. A fantasy slave tag however, will be almost entirely the product of someone's imagination, and be almost laughable with various engravings, names of plantations, words such as negro / slave, names of a person, special rights for travel, unusual occupations, and on and on in nearly an endless array of falsified craziness.

Fake items can be very difficult to spot, and are a great danger as these are the ones that can potentially trade at a premium to unwary dealers and duped collectors. In the field of American Civil War and Western America collectibles, fake and fantasy belt buckles and plates are yet another area of discussion. A belt buckle depicting a stagecoach and featuring the wording WELLS FARGO GUARD, would be a Fantasy item. A two-piece CS buckle however, recently cast in the style of an original Memphis Novelty Works piece, and carrying no distinctive marking on the back showing this as a modern reproduction, would be an outright Fake.

To add better perspective here is another comparison:
If a counterfeit $100 bill is created with nearly every detail correct, and even the experienced eyes may be fooled, then we are dealing with a fake.
A currency bill carrying the likeness of Micky Mouse, and showing the value of $1,000,000., would of course fall into the category of fantasy.

In regards to the "lettering style" on fake and/or fantasy Slave Tags, and the difference between serifed font letters (earlier style) and block letters (more modern); a key point is that on authentic Slave Hire Badges, the letters and numbers for city, occupation, and year, are in fact not depressed or punched lettering at all, but rather raised mark letters and numbers with the surrounding area of the lettering/number being depressed (much like the RMDC backmark style known to Civil War button collectors, which is Raised Mark Depressed Channel). The only portion that is individually hand punched with a depressed symbol on authentic Slave Hire Badges (slave tags), is the identification number in mid to later years (the first decade or so of the Charleston Slave Hire Badges, the identification number is actually hand engraved, rather than punched).

Hopefully this adds further insight to correctly identify the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

CC Hunter

 

[Silver Searcher]

Were ever you find value, you will find forgery and attemps to deceve, but don't forget these fakes, fantasy forgeries will in time become collectable themselves. This thread has been a very good read, and i would like to thank those who provided the exellent information, regarding the slave tags, and the history involved.
I only have one slave tag....it's the one the wife put around my neck, when we were married

SS

 

[AU Seeker]

A question to the experts, I was wondering if any of the "Fake" and or "Fantasy" slave tags could've been made by a slave/s in the proper time frame to be use during an attempt to escape slavery??

 

[Bryanhashemi]

Most of them couldn't read or write or have the means to make them. That's a good question though!

 

[steelheadwill]

I'm glad I made it through those pages where someone kept getting totally off topic.
Thanks to everyone else who contributed, I've learned a lot about these artifacts

 

[CC Hunter]

A question to the experts, I was wondering if any of the "Fake" and or "Fantasy" slave tags could've been made by a slave/s in the proper time frame to be use during an attempt to escape slavery??

The answer to that question is quite simply NO.

The "Fake" and "Fantasy" Slave Tags are entirely the product of more recent years, and unscrupulous individuals whose intent is monetary gain from creating bogus items! The first "Fake" and "Fantasy" Slave Tags began to show up at flea markets, pawn shops, antique stores, and such, a couple decades or so ago. The Internet and eBay then added easy venues for distribution of these fallacy pieces of scrap metal and soon the market was flooded.

The vast majority of slaves throughout the United States and Freemen as well, never even heard tell of a "Slave Tag", badge, license, or anything resembling these in the 19th Century. Carrying a "Fake" Slave Tag in an attempt to pass such an item off to gain freedom in the first half of the 19th Century would gather more suspicion and surprise, than any help at all. A slave on the run would actually either avoid others as much as possible, or seek refuge with those sympathetic to the Abolishionist cause. A "Fake" or "Fantasy" Slave Tag for a period slave would do about as much good as carrying a modern color photo I.D. automobile driver's license, as people would look and stare exclaiming; "What in heavens is that odd item you are carrying?!"

CC Hunter

 

[WilliamBoyd]

I'm from California.

This has been a most interesting discussion.

 

[jkamericana]

Hey all -- I'm late to this party, but I have no reason to doubt this is authentic. And yes, all the real slave hire badges come from Charleston (and Charleston Neck), but they're found all over the place -- I have records of ones found in the Upstate of SC, in Mississippi, and in Georgia. Slaves were hired out as seasonal help, and some apparently took their badges with them. So finding one in Savannah is not all that odd at all. The condition of this piece isn't great, and I don't offer ironclad statements of authenticity before seeing something in hand, but this has everything I'd look for in a genuine badge. I've handled, catalogued, bought and sold dozens of them over the years.