Sensitive item!

[rexmerdinus]

Good morning.

ATTN MODERATORS: If this type of item is not allowed for discussion or if this thread is misplaced, please feel free to delete or move, whichever is most appropriate.

I found this item at a garage sale in Ohio. The seller said it was his late father's, and that his father said it had been found inside an old barn in West Virginia. I bought it for $15.00, mostly to get it out of the public eye because it disgusted me, as it was purported to be a "slave collar."

It appears to be brass or bronze sheet attached to a thick (1/4" thick) black leather strap of about 4" width and about 12" long (measurements are estimates, as I don't have the piece in front of me at the moment). The brass is attached by manual rivets, and the "washers" visible on the front appear to be made from old Mexican coins. The leather is old and black and cracking in places. There are rings attached to the ends of the leather and a short chain threaded through the rings.

I wanted to get some opinions on this piece's authenticity. If it is real, I would like to donate it to an appropriate museum, and if it is fake I will gladly destroy it. Research online gives me ambiguous results--I found records of a few similar pieces that have been sold online over the years. I've reached out to several "experts." Several think it is genuine, while others says it's likely a fake. One suggested it is a "fantasy piece" made around the 1950s. An online antique dealer who specializes in the field and has past sales of similar items said that there is no record of any merchant by the name on the piece in Danville, VA during that era.

Any information or informed opinions would be welcome.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Good morning.

ATTN MODERATORS: If this type of item is not allowed for discussion or if this thread is misplaced, please feel free to delete or move, whichever is most appropriate.

I found this item at a garage sale in Ohio. The seller said it was his late father's, and that his father said it had been found inside an old barn in West Virginia. I bought it for $15.00, mostly to get it out of the public eye because it disgusted me, as it was purported to be a "slave collar."

It appears to be brass or bronze sheet attached to a thick (1/4" thick) black leather strap of about 4" width and about 12" long (measurements are estimates, as I don't have the piece in front of me at the moment). The brass is attached by manual rivets, and the "washers" visible on the front appear to be made from old Mexican coins. The leather is old and black and cracking in places. There are rings attached to the ends of the leather and a short chain threaded through the rings.

I wanted to get some opinions on this piece's authenticity. If it is real, I would like to donate it to an appropriate museum, and if it is fake I will gladly destroy it. Research online gives me ambiguous results--I found records of a few similar pieces that have been sold online over the years. I've reached out to several "experts." Several think it is genuine, while others says it's likely a fake. One suggested it is a "fantasy piece" made around the 1950s. An online antique dealer who specializes in the field and has past sales of similar items said that there is no record of any merchant by the name on the piece in Danville, VA during that era.

Any information or informed opinions would be welcome.

View attachment 585510

I did a quick lookup online and didn't find anything about it, so I can't post positively or negatively about its authenticity.

 

[RedRover]

These so-called "slave tags" have popped up online, etc. for a good while. Real ones, by which I mean made before 1865, were rare, and designed to sew on the clothing of urban slaves.

The Last Of America's Slave Tags

Would you like to buy something weird? Hammer Time is our guide to things that are for sale at auction: fantastic, consequential and freakishly grotesque archival treasures that appear in public for just a brief moment, most likely never to ...

www.theawl.com

Here's a much better fake made for sale to 20th Century tourists...

Slave Badge | Charleston Museum

Here is an early 21st Century article on these things from an archived web page (no longer active)...

Slavery Tokens and Slave Tags: Genuine, fake, fantasy items described and defined.

Slave Tags, Slave Hire Badges, Anti-Slavery and other medallic Slavery related items. Buying and selling. Quality mail bid sales and authentication of Tags available.

web.archive.org

The gentleman that used to keep up that website, commented back in 2005 to a similar inquiry:

"I can say that this is positively a MODERN FANTASY tag. Please see my web site... for more information on Slave Tags. ALL known genuine Slave Tags are from Charleston, or the suburb Charleston Neck. There are NO known Tags from any other location, period. The crooks and fakers make up these FANTASY tags, as the Hobby Protection Act protects against forgeries and fakes, but it is more vague on fantasy pieces. A 'fantasy' is an item that never existed, and in this case, this has been recently made to look like genuine Slave Tags in shape and feel... There are LOTS of fake and fantasy slave related items for sale on the internet, especially on eBay. About 99% of the so-called 'Slave Tags' on eBay are fake or fantasy. Genuine Tags generally bring $2000 up, mostly up, and as reported, some WAY up in the $20000+ range. I, and other experts, check eBay every week for Tags, and you positively will not be able to buy any genuine Tag under $500. Most of the fake/fantasy 'tags' on eBay sell in the $25-100 range. Obviously, if you can't afford a $2000-5000 Tag, a good fake for $25 is an alternative, if you want some history of Slavery. The problem is, a year or ten down the road, the $25 fake suddenly becomes a treasured relic worth thousands! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news!"

 

[Story]

Contact these folks and see of they can confirm/deny, Legit or not, they're a good choice for receiving your donation

Home - Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History

Unleash your curiosity at Danville Museum! Explore art, history & culture through exhibits, events & more. Visit us today!

danvillemuseum.org

 

[rexmerdinus]

Thank you all for the replies! I'm familiar with the tags, and I know there are a lot of fakes out there. Several years ago Morphy Auctions, which I watch for firearms, had some tags and I believe some of them went for well over $20k. The dealer who said this collar was a fantasy piece sold a very similar one on his online store several years earlier as genuine (maybe a "genuine fantasy piece?"), so I'm not sure where the proverbial line is drawn. I will definitely reach out to that museum!

 

[CdubeJr87]

Reminds me of the postcards that claimed black children were used as gator bait.

For an interesting look at northern complicity in creating the mythology of moonlight and magnolias, see Souvenirs of the Old South: Northern Tourism and Southern Mythology by Rebecca Cawood McIntrye