Not sure why I picked this piece up. Thought I found a match on Heritage with the doubled 8 on a genuine token, but can't find it again. Did I blow some money on a modern replica, or did I do all right here?
sorry, but to my eye it is very questionable-- as to being genuine. The dark areas on the obv may be the gold plate wearing off. If I could ever find it, I'd post a picture of the one that I have, from years ago.
I had rather thought the same thing. I own circulated gold and it isn't worn quite like that. I didn't want to put my foot in my mouth because I am not intimately familiar with these. I hope the piece didn't set the OP back too awful much.
Looks like plating is coming off and it also has verdigris on the bottom right. The fact that this series is heavily counterfeited doesn't help. I'm not an expert on these at all but I would try to get my money back.
The verdigris is a telling sign. It would not grow on 90% pure gold but does grow on gold plate. Also, I am not a gold coin expert but my US gold coin from the same time period is worn, but does not show dark areas as the OP's coin.
I'm thinking it's a gold charm, likely only worth a few bucks, not real gold at all. Here's two of mine, actually my only two. The one with the "G" is 20k and the one in the 14k bezel has an "M" on it but the Token is only 11k gold, hard to pic with a cell!
Fake by being the real thing its most likely gold plated they are very very tiny I couldn't keep track of them.
If anyone cares, I'd be willing to part with the gold token I placed above but not the one in the bezel as that's a true rarity. The other one is rare as well as most BG Tokens are, but for the right price or trade I'd part with it! Just sayin'!
Referring to the OP coin, do you see a denomination on it? D? DOL? DOLLAR? No? Well ALL of the genuine California Fractionals have a denomination on them. The first two things you look for on a California fractional are "Does it have a bear on the back?" If it does it's a fake. "Does it have a denomination?" If it doesn't it's a fake.