David Gladfelter writes:

I am not convinced that the number of stars on the flag can be used to reliably date the token.

Both the 1847 and 1852 dated California Counter tokens have 24 stars which is too few for either year. Also, they are arranged in a star shape which seems unusual. But they do have the correct number of stripes (13).

The 1849 "California Token" has 30 stars which is correct for the date, but only 9 stripes.

Clearly diesinkers took liberty with their flag designs. Note that all of these pieces were most likely issued after the dates on them.

And here is a token in brass similar to the one discussed, but with a very stylized flag with only 9 stars.

To read the complete Token Catalog item description, see:
Unknown, California, U.S.A.(https://tokencatalog.com/token_record_forms.php?
action=DisplayTokenRecord&td_id=635682&inventory_id
=769981&td_image_id=573951&attribution_id=661256&record_offset=188)

Michael adds:

Bill Hyder writes:

Michael replies:

Julia Casey writes:

Julia adds:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
THE LAST PATRIOTIC CIVIL WAR TOKEN?(https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n39a13.html)