Some US Hard Times Token Replicas And Fakes

Can we see a pic of the edge where the sprue connected?

HT-13R detail of edge.



-Duncan

I agree, it would seem that "R" means Replica.

Okay, here's something quite a bit different from the Hard Times era.

Slave tags are classified by Rulau as Hard Times tokens because they were around by the 1828-1846 time period. Seems like anything collectible connected to slavery has been an attractive category for fakers because of the market appeal. That's especially true when it comes to slave tags because they are crudely made (and often "dug" items) and they sell in the $1,000 to $3,000 range.

I won't show fakes, because they are easily found in an online search. Essentially though, anything that ISN'T marked CHARLESTON is usually assumed to be phony.

But this one caught my eye for a different reason - genuine or fake, I don't know, but it did get caught up in the "monster rainbow toning" craze, despite being offered by a highly respected seller.

Before...




And then one day it showed up in a bizarre lot mysteriously "toned"...



I was shocked - as was, apparently, the slave tag.

-Duncan

Thanks for posting those, ExoGuy. Your report must've been effective, because the first item is gone from ebay and the link no longer works.

Which, before I forget, reminds me that years ago, ebay used to tell us that for our safety and protection, all auctions would remain available online for 90 days after the auction closed. But now, bad auctions, where we really need that promised protection, disappear immediately when pulled by ebay, sort of like destroying incriminating evidence. (It works a little differently when a seller voluntarily ends an auction early, those tend to remain for a while with a statement as to why the auction is gone, "Seller has ended the auction because of an error in the listing", etc.)

I remember when I first started saving Hard Times tokens I saw warnings that the "AM I NOT A WOMAN" and "AM I NOT A MAN" were often counterfeited, sometimes poorly done and sometimes very deceptive, but unfortunately at that time I was not saving any documentation in computer files. So all I have now are examples of the modern replicas like those in your second link. However, some of those were uniface, or carried an ad for the modern producer of the tokens on the reverse.

But knowing that excellent fakes of those two tokens are out there, they are simply two examples I will not buy, at least not without better information about them.

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Another tricky area is silver plated Hard Times tokens. I've passed up bidding on one particular one I believe to be genuine (believed genuine because the issuer is known to have produced other genuine plated tokens). But because it's impossible for slabbers to determine precisely when the plating was done, they very seldom will be authenticated. The token I was considering might be unique. Or fake.

-Duncan