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.

 

For my example, I did some digging on the internet until I found the matching one.

PCGS lists it here:
https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1864-1-bg-1328/516802

The only thing about the books is that they are listed for hundreds of dollars each - even the 2003 revised editions. I'd say if you're into California tokens, the book will pay for itself though.

I think typically with BG numbers this high, you'll start to see tokens made of brass; the one you have is brass, but if it's real, it likely circulated among the gold coins of the time.

 

Probably been through at least one. I'd say at that time, the brass coins, even with gold coins' denominations, were treated with significantly less care than the gold ones, sort of like how we do them today.

 

If it means anything, this weighs in at 1.23g.

 

It's possible, but it looks more brass. There are numerous counterfeits of California Fractional Gold, and a lot of charms, made as souvenirs that get passed off as such.
If it's a specimen of BG-1328, it's brass or was gold plated, with a reeded edge.
A Period Three piece from the early decades of the 20th century, backdated to skirt the Coinage Act of 1864 banning privately minted coinage. Also quite rare, R5 or R6, from ∼25 to ∼60 specimens known.

 

Imagine how much time it took to WRITE it!

 

The edge is reeded. Obviously it is quite beat up, but can you say what it could be worth? I’m just trying to catalog it correctly. If there’s minimal or no real value, that’s fine. It came to me in a lot of about a hundred foreign coins.