I hadn’t seen Barbara’s tokens yet, but I loved the cute round linen pouch with the multicolored needlepoint rooster they’d come in. Inside were three tokens that she had bought from a female vendor, and she was curious if they were worth anything.
The female vendor had gotten them from a woman whose father had been an attorney. “A lot of times he accepted things instead of payment,” the woman told Barbara, an auction-regular who had done some research on her own. They were called brothel tokens, and Barbara had found conflicting information about their authenticity.
The brass tokens were the size of a silver dollar, and two had the same inscription. All were blank on the opposite side, something Barbara hoped was promising – an indication that maybe hers were the real thing.
Two were inscribed around the top and bottom perimeter with “Uncle Sam Hotel. Arizona Territory” and in the center “12 Beautiful Young Ladies to Assist You. Yuma.” There was a little ocean wave on the token.
The other token bore the words “Railhead Saloon. Tombstone-Arizona Territory,” and in the center “Good for one dollar in trade. Girls. Whiskey. Tobacco.”
I had never heard of or seen brothel tokens before, so I was naturally curious about them. So I went Googling.
On what appeared to be legitimate websites, these tokens were described as fantasy items produced for fun. The expert site on the issue seemed to be AAA Historical Americana out of Rockford, IL, headed by a man named Rich Hartzog. The site offered good information on exonumia (tokens, medals, badges and related items), along with items for sale, including slave tags, badges, medals tokens and antislavery items.
I also found that even fakes were made of the fantasy tokens, and several sites warned collectors and others not to be fooled.
The key message, though, was that these tokens were never used in a brothel. They were produced for sale as novelty items at flea markets, according to Hartzog’s website, which among others listed some of the tokens.
One site selling them for about $2.50 each (or five for $10.95) was very clear about what they were: “Fun to collect, use as poker chips, or just entertain your friends. Make a great addition to an Old West collection, or a coupon for romance!” A buyer on another site – which called them “reproduction chit” – said he had cashed one in to his wife.
Tongue-in-cheek seemed to be the right way to approach these tokens.
But not everyone did. Some sites were passing them off as real and indicating that they were actually used in brothels. “Money used in the saloon for women and whatever,” said one site that was selling the tokens for $99.99.
I found other items of this type, including saloon tokens (which were actually used during the latter part of the 19th century), Nevada silver strike tokens (still sold in casinos and on the web, and have a fan club) and what was claimed to be an authentic brothel token from Rosario, Argentina.
This token was said to likely have been made in France and used as advertisement. It had the same ladies head as a fantasy (or fake, depending on who you read) token inscribed with “Miss Olga” in Denver. A Miss Olga sold at auction in November for $50.
The Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery in Great Britain showed from its collection a 19th-century brothel token made in France – similar to the Rosario token. The word shellcard was used often to describe this particular token, and I learned that it was metal over cardboard.
A person identifying himself as a collector said on one site that tokens were actually used in brothels in such countries as France, Spain and Argentina, but never in the United States. Sets of French brass brothel tokens were sold by a Nevada auction house in 2011 for $200 to $700 (silver), along with some Mexico brothel tokens and some saloon tokens.
Recently, the Museum of London announced that a 2,000-year-old Roman brothel token had been found near the Thames River. The token showed a man and woman in what looked like an erotic embrace. Museum officials said it was not clear how the coin was used.
Barbara’s tokens appeared to be real fantasy and not reproduction fantasy. As for worth, the Railhead sold for $1 to $10 on eBay, and Uncle Sam sold for $8. An Uncle Sam sold at an auction last year for $20. Next time, maybe she’ll be lucky and come across some authentic French ones.
