Hello everyone. I know these California gold pieces have been counterfeited a bit in the past. I have the opportunity to purchase one (don't have any photos of the coin at present) and am wondering with this specific year, is there anything to look for that would jump out at you as making it a counterfeit?
Can you match it up to known varieties in the Gillio book? If not, it probably isn't one. Do you have pics?
https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/category/territorial/california-fractional-gold-1852-1882/1659 Breen-Gillio numbering. Jim
The numbers don't do you much good without pictures. A couple thing that will weed out most of the common fakes. ALL genuine california fractionals will have a denomination expressed either as D, DOL, or DOLLAR. NO California fractional has a bear or similar animal on it. (Although on some of them Liberty kind of looks like a bear. )
The picture they put up is atrocious however most of their other coins they have for sale appear legit.
Good info! Thanks! I can’t even see from their photo enough to tell if there is a bear or not. I’ll let you all know when I can get around to meeting this person.
Thanks for the advice! I know just because the others may be alright doesn’t mean that this one is. I was aware that these were highly reproduced and wasn’t sure exactly what to check for. I’m thinking in the near future I may end up springing for one of those metal verifiers.
The metal verifier probably won't work on a lot of the fakes. They are gold. The ones that aren't gold are easy to tell apart. The collector value is much higher than the intrinsic.
Still working on a meet up with this seller. I didn't forget about all the help so far, I want to follow up when I see it.
