Back to Mike Locke's small gold tokens with wreaths (no bear) index.

Wreath #1

Very plain curly line with berries, in a circle
Wide denticulated border
"CALIFORNIA" in arc inside top of wreath
"GOLD" in arc inside bottom of wreath
Date in middle, sometimes with bar above and below
1/4 or 1/2 size, denomination not stated
Only seen with Indian heads of crude and highly variable design

All of the tokens in this series appear to be gold plated brass, and are very thin, and in low relief.

33 varieties listed

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Wreath #1, rusty punched heads
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Octagonal 1/4
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1852 Indian #1, small head 16 stars. Denticulation wide and deep.

1853 Indian #1, small head 16 stars, some stars chip into denticulation, some small cracks. + Denticulation wide and deep.+ (like Burnie type 38 No 1, but rev of type 39)

1853 Indian #2, large head 16 stars, same as 1854 #1. No ornamentation around date.

1854 Indian #1, large head 16 stars "wheat head" style feathers + (Burnie type 41 No 1) + Heavy line from 4 to "califorNia"

1854 Indian #2, small head 8 stars, 3 heavy radial cracks + Verticle line under 4 (1854/1?)

1854 Indian #3, small head 8 stars. High relief Indian with extremely poor strike at top of head.

1857 Indian #1, small head 16 stars(obverse of 1852 #1)

1857 Indian #2, large head 16 stars(obverse of 1854 #1)

1875 Indian #1, large head 16 stars "wheat head" style feathers, same as 1854 #1

1875 Indian #2, small head 16 stars "wheat head" style feathers, same as 1852 #1

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Round 1/4
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1852 Indian #1, 16 stars, same punch used for many of the Wreath 4 types.

1853 Indian #1, 10 stars. Obverse of 1854 #1.

1854 Indian #1, 10 stars, circular crack through stars. Denticulation wide and deep.+ (Burnie type 38 No 1)

1854 Indian #2, 16 stars, head type as seen on Wreath4 tokens.

1857 Indian #1, 16 stars.

1857 Indian #2, 10 stars apparently the obverse of 1854 #1 and reverse of 1857 #1

1875 Indian #1, 16 stars apparently the obverse of 1852 #1

1875 Indian #2, 16 stars wide head. Same reverse as #1. An unusually bright piece for this series.

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Octagonal 1/2
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1852 Indian #1, 16 stars. Narrow head, 2nd feather points to star.

1852 Indian #2, 16 stars. Narrow head, 1st feather points to star.

1852 Indian #3, 16 stars. Broad head obverse of 1854 #1, reverse similar to 1852 #1 but no stars next to GOLD.

1852 Indian #4, 8 stars. Narrow head style obverse, but with a HUGE nose.

1853 Indian #1, 16 stars. Narrow head.

1853 Indian #2, 16 stars. Wide head.

1854 Indian #1, 16 stars. "Wheat head" style feathers +(2) (Burnie type 41 No 3)

1857 Indian #1, 16 stars. "Wheat head" style feathers + (Burnie type 41 No 3). Seen in solid gold (shown) and gilt brass.

1857 Indian #2, 16 stars. Wreath 4b style head.

1875 Indian #1, 16 stars

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Round 1/2
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1852 Indian #1, 16 stars.

1852 Indian #2, 12 stars, wreath has 3 chain links at bottom.

1852 Indian #3, 16 stars, same punch used for many of the Wreath 4 types. Same reverse as #1.

1853 Indian #1, 12 stars.

1853 Indian #2, 16 stars. Photo of token from the David Showers collection.

1857 Indian #1, 12 stars. (like Burnie type 38 No 2, but rev of type 39 and 12 stars)

1857 Indian #2, 8 stars. At 12.5mm diameter, this is right on the threshold of being a 1 or a 1/2. Gilt brass, despite the appearance. Both dies clashed.

1875 Indian #1, 16 stars wide head. Obverse of 1852 #1?

See also Wreath2.