What’s this odd little thing?

Had some time today to sift through my little bin of oddities and found this one. What the heck is it? Appears to be a U.S. issue of some sort. Maybe a civil war token?

 

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This is the BG-1328 variety of California tokens, dated 1864. I have one of these and yours could very well be genuine because the originals were made in brass. Not sure if mine is real, but if it's listed as a BG number, there should be a way to tell if you've got the real thing.

 

Well you are deeper in the (coin) weeds of the matter than my relatively semi-amateurish self was expecting. But I suppose that is or could be a good thing. What reference material are you using?

 

The standard reference for the series, California Pioneer Fractional Gold, first published by Walter Breen and Ron Gillio (BG numbers) in 1983, lists nearly 600 varieties
Updated edition 2003.

 

600 Varieties? Holy Cow! Need a lot of time on your hands to read that book.

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but are we saying that this beat up piece could be gold?

 

I think it's more likely brass.

 

It looks like it went through every battle in the Civil War.

 

Battle with something that is. I guess it could be Ox damage on someone's homestead.