Back to Mike Locke's small gold tokens with bears index.

Bear #2

Shagy bear with a mane and lion's head
Ground underneath
Fancy floral pattern in front and behind
Denomination in large letters in middle
"CALIFORNIA GOLD" in arc across the top
Several dies seen, each apparently hand cut
Line drawing heads, but finer work than the bear #1 coins
Seen with 1932 Olympics and 1936 Bay Bridge obverses
Seen in 1/4 1/2, and 1 size

Reported by Andy as made by Motivations research and later by Art Smith with "replica" on the reverse. 1970s or later. See also wreath #6.

Burnie reports that most of these are known with "ALL Dates 1849-1860"

56 varieties listed

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Bear #2, all are 13 stars, line drawing style, medal orientation
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Round 1/2
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1849 Liberty #1, bear nose in flower, few marks for ground, crack rim to C&R

1849 Liberty #2, bear nose in leaves.

1849 Liberty #3, unusual large liberty head, early die state of reverse from #1?

1852 Liberty #1, rotated 90deg, bear nose in flower crack rim to C&R+ (3) 90 degree rotated or not. Earlier die state seen in bronze. Earliest die state seen has crack like die lines on obv and a hump above the bear's shoulder.

1852 Liberty #2, old style reverse, bear nose above flower and bear has tail.

1853 Liberty #1.

1855 Liberty #1, bear nose in flower

1856 Liberty #1, bear nose in flower, ear sticks up, die shattered +

1856 Liberty #2, no pearls in hair, 5 in date recut, heavy bear with nose in flower. Tall lettering + (3)

1856 Liberty #3, extremely close copy of #1, but rev lettering taller and some folliage details differ.

1856 Liberty #4, extremely close copy of #1, but rev lettering farther from rim and some folliage details differ.

1856 Liberty #5, obverse of #2, reverse has the crack to C & R..

1857 Liberty #1, obv rusty and cracked, small lettered rev of 1858 #1 VLDS +

1857 Liberty #2, larger obverse stars, larger reverse lettering than #1

1857 Liberty #3, similar to #2 but date away from rim and reverse slightly different

1857 Liberty #4, possibly the obv of #1, bear chin on flower

1858 Liberty #1, bear has bear head, small lettering +

1858 Liberty #2, Bear head above flower, early die state of obverse of #1 +

1859 Liberty #1, stars 6 and 7 boldly repunched; rim cud at K6

1859 Liberty #2. Same reverse as 1860 Liberty #1.

1860 Liberty #1
Kenny Lee holder?

1860 Liberty #2, Same obverse as #1, extremely similar reverse, but foliage and ground beneath bear differs (ebay picture).

1860 Liberty #3. Obverse and reverse differ from tokens 1 and 2.

1849 Indian #1, two stars and "SOUVENIR OF SACRAMENTO" around
Bear chin just above flower.

1852 Indian #1, medium size, first feather points at star 8. Stars small
Bear nose and mouth above flower +

1852 Indian #2, small size, first feather ends below star 8. Stars large
Bear nose above flower, lettering larger than the above, gilt copper or bronze+
The illustrated piece appears to be in the original shipping cello package.

1852 Indian #3, small size, first feather ends below star 8. Stars large. Same obv as #2, but now worn and cracked.
Bear nose in flower, cracks rim to C&R, same rev seen frequently elsewhere+
The first illustration shows a pre-strike thin gold plated token such as seen in the Tatham productions. That token is weakly struck. The second illustration shows a post strike gold plated piece on a larger planchet that is fully struck. These dies are in a later state as evidenced by the advancement of the cracks, cud, and rust on both dies.

1853 Indian #1

1854 small Indian #1 wide date, large bear with nose in flower

1854 small Indian #2 wide date, small bear with nose in flower, foliage differs from #1.

1854 small Indian #3 close date, small bear with chin even with flower.

1855 small Indian #1. Proof that cleaning coins is a bad thing!

1855 small Indian #2. Obverse of #1, reverse differs

1856 small Indian #1, bear nose in flower, few marks for ground, crack rim to C & R +
Flag of 1 underneath "O", small lettering. The first one is the usually seen gilt brass with crack to C. The second one is the early state of this die without the crack to C and struck in solid gold.

1856 large Indian #2, bear nose in flower, crack rim to C&R +
This token seen in "Packet NO. C99" from Tatham.

1856 large Indian #3 same head as #2 with ear exposed, different die

1856 small Indian #4 (appears to be the same #1) +
Flag of 1 underneath "F", unlike #1, tall lettering

1856 large Indian #5 ear covered unlike #2 or #3. Yet another very similar but different reverse (same as 1860 Liberty #2?)

1856 small Indian #6. Obverse is an extremely close copy of #1, reverse has unusually wide gap between CALIFORNIA and GOLD.

1856 large Indian #7 obverse die of #5, reverse die of #3.

1857 small Indian #1. Pardon the picture, the reverse is very badly damaged on this one.

1857 small Indian #2. Gilt.

1858 small Indian #1. Seen with reverse die cracked on a 0.4mm thick planchet (shown) and with a "perfect" reverse die on a 0.25mm thick planchet.

1858 small Indian #2. (Ebay picture)

1859 small Indian #1, earlier style bear, thin planchet probably 14k gold

1859 small Indian #2, later style bear. With accompanying letter dated 1934.

1860 Indian #1, bear nose in flower, crack rim to C&R

1860 Indian #2, bear nose above flower

1849 Minerva #1, SOUVENIR OF SACRAMENTO around obverse. Same reverse as 1849 Indian Souvenir #1. Scan of token from the Golden State Collector. 11.8x0.3mm, 0.26 grams, unusually thin and light for a gilt token.

Jay Roe reports that the original Olympics tokens were produced by Julio Kilenyi of New York by request of Thomas A. Schrimper (member of the Olympic Committee) and that 5435 of these tokens were produced and GIVEN away.

Julio Kilenyi is a Hungarian sculpter who also did the artwork for some of the 1932 Olympics posters and the Harry Truman presidential inaugural medal. Most likely, he only designed the obverse of these tokens.

Jay Roe also reports that the reverse die are common with tokens known to have been made by the Pacific Stamp Company.

1932 Discus thrower Olympics #1, bear nose in flower, few marks for ground, crack rim to C (larger than on the Liberty or Indian) + Burnie Misc type 3 No 2

1932 Discus thrower Olympics #2, bear nose below flower, clearly marked ground below. Same reverse as sprinter #1.

1932 Sprinter Olympics #1, bear nose below flower, large bold lettering entire design in high relief, long rim cud starting at K10 +

1932 Sprinter #2, smaller cast copy. Very thick, with seam on edge.

1932 Sprinter Olympics #3, bear nose in flower. Obverse of sprinter #1, reverse of discus thrower.
Reverse die state later than the 1936 Bay Bridge piece, indicating that this is a restrike
Obverse heavily clashed against the Discus Thrower obverse! The long odd mark above the sprinter back is from the thrower's arm. The marks above the sprinters head are from the discuss. The throwers head is underneath "MP" in the legend.
This piece was sold by Tatham Stamp & coin Company in Packet No C100b. Tatham is known to have produced restrikes of California gold tokens.

1935 San Diego Exposition #1, bear nose in flower, few marks for ground, crack rim to C, crack rim to R. The illustrated token is rather dark and the contrast has been enhanced a great deal.

1936 Bay Bridge #1, bear nose in flower, few marks for ground, crack rim to C, crack rim to R. Later with long rim cud extending CW from crack at R. Dies slightly rotated.
Extremely thin gold wash over brass; difficult to locate as nice as the illustrated piece.