Help me identify these tokens.

February 23, 2006 12:54 PM

Help me identify these old (maybe fake) tokens/coins.

A friend of mine obtained these unusual tokens and was wondering if they are real and what is the story behind them.

Coin 1 - Molly
Side 1
Side 2

Coin 2 - Honeyboy
Side 1
Side 2

posted by Ateo Fiel to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

I just saw a reproduction of the same things in a recent catalog that my parents had. Apparently some bordellos used tokens for services. They look like they could be real.
posted by JJ86 at 1:02 PM on February 23, 2006

There is some information here regarding the second token.
posted by Carbolic at 1:06 PM on February 23, 2006

My question is, if the tokens are real, why are they so unworn? Also, some of the writing appears to be stamped over what is supposed to be wear.

Also, the town of Palo Alto, Texas, founded 1872, changed it's name in 1881 to Killeen after it was bought out by the railroad.
posted by Pollomacho at 1:43 PM on February 23, 2006

From Carbolic's link:
There are NO genuine Slave Tags known to exist except from Charleston and Charleston Neck (a suburb). All Mississippi Tags are modern fantasy pieces (NO original is known to exist). All fully incuse tags are fakes or fantasy pieces. Recently seen pieces include "Kemp Plantation" and others, all by the same maker.

So the slave tag is a fake.
And it looks like the "Molly" one is, too.
Bawdy House Tokens - Whore House Tokens - FANTASY:
These cute tokens are ALL fantasy items. There NEVER were any original pieces, despite the existance of a book on these.
posted by Floydd at 1:48 PM on February 23, 2006

Thanks all. So it looks like they are just unusual looking 'fantasy' tokens.
posted by Ateo Fiel at 2:32 PM on February 23, 2006