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The following information is Copyright 1991 by Stephen P. Alpert and is reproduced here with permission.  Other than printing one copy for your personal use, PLEASE DO NOT FURTHER REPRODUCE OR REDISTRIBUTE the following without the prior permission of Stephen P. Alpert, P. O. Box 66331, Los Angeles, CA 90066.

From "Tokens and Medals:  A Guide to the Identification and Values of United States Exonumia", First Edition, 1992.  [In stock, retail price $19.95, NET $17 postpaid to Internet customers.  Order via the mailto: on the Ken Barr Numismatics home page.]

Chapter 67.  FAKES, FANTASIES, AND RESTRIKES

A.  FANTASY BAWDY HOUSE - BROTHEL TOKENS

Most of these pieces are brass and about silver dollar size or a bit larger. Many are incuse; some are uniface. The most common reverses are "Good For All Night" and "All Night $3 Check". Just the name and location are given below; some occur in several varieties.

B.  "L. A. STAMP" OLD WEST FANTASY TOKENS

The Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Co. made many tokens and medals from the last 19th century to the mid 20th century.  But they never used the signature "L. A. Stamp" which appears on these tokens, on the pieces they made.  These uniface tokens are made of copper, brass, pewter, zinc, and white medal, and many are odd shaped and have cutouts.  Not all the pieces below have the L.A. Stamp signature; those that don't are similar to identical in style to the others.  (Similar fantasy tokens related to the Nazis and World War Two also exist.)

C.  TRANSPORTATION TOKEN FANTASIES AND RESTRIKES

These are cataloged in the Atwood-Coffee catalog of transportation tokens, Volume One.  The L. A. Stamp type pieces are listed above.  Other fantasy transit tokens that could be mistaken for valuable old tokens are:

D.  KU KLUX KLAN FANTASIES

E.  PENNSYLVANIA SALOON FANTASIES

These Good For 5¢ In Trade tokens are aluminum and are marked RS.

F.  OKLAHOMA TOKEN FANTASIES

(For other, incuse, fantasies, see the Oklahoma token catalog by Walker.)

G.  FANTASY COAL CO. TOKENS

These are rare;  apparently not many were made.  (See the October 1983 issue of TAMS Journal.)

Recently manufactured is:  Marymore Mines, Inc., Excelsior, Ky, 20

H.  TEXAS FANTASY TRADE TOKENS

I.  "DRA" FANTASY TOKENS

These are marked DRA for Deep River Armory, a store in Houston, Texas that had these tokens made as novelty items.

J.  OTHER FANTASY TOKENS AND MEDALS

Other miscellaneous fantasy tokens exist, but are not likely to be mistaken as being valuable, so they are not listed here.  

There are about 40 Nevada trade tokens that are believed by many collectors to be questionable, or fantasies, or fakes.  Many are very deceptive and have the look of legitimate tokens.  They are listed in the Nevada Trade Tokens books; some similar pieces exist from Calfifornia, and Utah (Elko Saloon, above.)

K.  ANILLO RESTRIKES

These are uniface aluminum restrikes of tokens and medals, made by Anillo Industries of Orange, Calif. in 1968.  Anillo Industries had bought out all the dies of the Los Angeles Stamp and Stationery Co. (formerly the Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Co.) and planned to go into the token and medal making business.  So they took about 3,500 of the old dies and struck 25 sets of uniface tokens which they planned to mount in salesmen sample books.  Only four books were made up.  Thes sets ended up being sold to token collectors for about $150 per set.  The dies used for the restrikes were mostly California trade tokens and medals.  Most of the restrikes look just like the original tokens, but the Anillo restrikes can be easily identified by being aluminum and uniface.  Some collectors are now paying $1.00 to several dollars each for most of these restrikes (especially those of rare tokens).  But these restrikes are frequently offered for sale as original old tokens at high prices.

[Additional sections in this chapter cover generic information on Trade Token Restrikes, U. S. Mint Medal Restrikes, Confederate Coins, and Fake Scrimshaw Ivory Chips, but are not reproduced here ...)

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