I found this while cleaning out my fathers desk after he passed away, I know the value was decreased when someone soldered a loop on it to wear it as a charm but was wondering if it has any value. I doubt I'd ever sell it since it has more sentimental value than what I'm guessing it's worth. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. .
Wow. Some pretty nice prices on the Coinfacts page! Of course that is not a Mint State example and yes, you'd have to deduct for the loop, but do not remove the loop- there would be no point in that now. It is a jewelry piece now. But it still has plenty of appeal as a jewelry piece, and no doubt some value. (And, like you mentioned, sentimental value.) Neat find!
As a former collector of holed coins, I sometimes encountered misguided attempts at coin repair. This is why I say "don't remove the loop". It is better to have an intact coin jewelry piece than a damaged coin. If it's gonna be a "problem" coin regardless, why not leave it alone? (Not that I'm suggesting you were gonna try to remove the loop.) Take, for example, the 1856-S quarter-eagle I once had on my "Holey Gold Hat". When I got it, I saw someone had crudely plugged the hole with some kind of non-gold metal; probably lead solder or something like that. The plug was a blackish color and stood out like a sore thumb. What's the point? It was ugly, so I drilled the plug back out and reverted the coin to a "holey", just as had been intended by the person who had drilled the original hole a century and a half before. Once a jewelry piece, always a jewelry piece, unless you pay good money for a professional repair, which is probably only worth it for really tough stuff like better-grade Bust dollars and such. (And even then, they probably wouldn't straight-grade with a third-party grading service.) But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Holed and looped pieces, like engraved or counterstamped or love token pieces, all have their own charm.
There's none like this on EBay. I love this coin. I'm sure you're dad was a good man. My condolences. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Would make a nice pendant for a wife or daughter or other lady in the family, I reckon. Or heck, you could wear it on a chain yourself.
Thanks again for your info, I like the hat and vest btw. It would have to be for a woman I think because of the size of the coin, it's tiny, like a half inch across, not sure if its even a real coin. Can't imagine a coin that size in your pocket.
Also believe it or not, people still do this to coins. By leaving such coins be you could be saving a non-altered coin from being ruined.
There are a lot of fake and fantasy California fractional gold pieces out there (many with a bear in the design- "if you see the bear, beware!"). Yours looks OK. I'm not a specialist in these, but I'm reasonably confident yours is kosher. I think it's a real coin. (Unless it's a much better than average fake!)
I believe it to be genuine and to be B&G #1120. It's a low Rarity 5 meaning 60-75 pieces known and almost certainly more than that. Not a very valuable piece as these go but a heck of a nice find!
Thanks David, there was a coin dealer next to the deli I stopped at for lunch and I showed him the coin and he said it was only worth gold scrap value... Not that I would sell it anyway.
