An 80 year old friend had this and asked me to look at it. I have no clue, my gut said "tourist junk" until I googled it a bit....now I'm not so sure. Appears to be MS, too good to be true most likely but, like I said, not my area of knowledge. It's the first time I've ever seen one of these. Came in a very old PVC flip with a rusty staple, my friend said she thought she's had it for decades - came from her deceased aunt. WHAT THE HECK IS THIS TINY DUDE? The weight is 0.31g, non-magnetic, 11 mm diameter, edges are also gold.
There are legit different types of 1853 fractional California gold pieces. IDK but this appears to be some kind of token. Take it to a "We Buy Gold" place and have it tested for free to see if it is really gold. If it is not, it is junk. They will have to scratch one of the edges on the stone to be able to test it.
California fractional gold coins are mostly junk. If the owner is not willing to have the coin checked, leave it alone! Good luck.
To me it looks to be real, cleaned and worn. Those California fractional gold coins are difficult and I’m not an expert. I do have a few of the genuine ones.
You either have one of these, or something trying to look like one of these. Whether it is genuine or not... beyond my expertise: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1351287704...6e08cd7450cbbdddc64c6cf2e8891f6d48747c6d56d2c
This is the closest I've found but it's 1857. The portrait and reverse match pretty well. https://coins.ha.com/itm/california...431.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515
I like the idea to take it to a shop to find out if real gold first. My local coin shop has one of the guns to zap it and find out.
Yep like Q said it's a California fractional, some are made of brass, usually the ones that say the denomination contains gold but it's kind of a hit or miss prospect. Best to take it to a jeweler or coin shop that has an XRF scanner and find out if it's real gold. good luck!
So, if it is gold, does it have a numismatic premium? Is it actually from 1853 or just a modern fantasy replica? The comparable above sold for $264. I don't want to dump this off at melt for $100 unless that's all it really is.
Here's another one, oddly the slab says 1853 but the coin says 1855. https://coins.ha.com/itm/western-so...0395-53511.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515 Actual 1853 but not the same obverse https://coins.ha.com/itm/western-so...0228-92185.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515 Seems like you're going to need a real expert.
It looks to be real, but not considered a California gold coin, just a token. As weird as this sounds, the denominated ones are sometimes considered coins. I'm no expert on California gold, but this token - - is also considered a coin. This is an 1864 quarter (1/4 dollar) that's currently on GreatCollections, a BG-735; I think the ones considered coins all have a BG number to them. The dated tokens like yours are generally brass or contain gold in fineness from 9 to 20 karat. I would send it to NGC to see what they think; while it probably won't get a BG number, it may be authentic.
Even if it is gold, you don't have to sell it. Why would they make a fake out of real gold? The issue I think there are legitimate pieces that weren't made out of gold. However, something like brass from 170 years ago would probably look like junk and be impossible to clean. (You would need nitric acid.)
At 0.31g, melt would be just 30-some dollars, right? I'm no expert, but this doesn't look like one that can be dismissed out of hand. I sure wouldn't sell it off for melt ..
