Hey everyone, I recently picked this gold piece up. I don't really know much about these, so any info would be appreciated! Also, I would like to confirm its authenticity because I know these were known to be heavily counterfeited. It weighs .31 grams. Thanks!
Great looking piece, congrats on the buy! I attempted once to educate myself about these tiny gold coins, but to no avail. I know there are references that have been written about fractional gold, however, from what I found, online info is somewhere between sparse and nonexistent. Where info does exist, they are convoluted and contradictory of each other. If you interested in collecting many of them from my experience I would recommend investing in the reference books. Until then I hope you can get some good info on here. In my opinion however, it looks genuine and in good condition; a great coin! Find a simlar coin listed for sale on this site, sorry I cannot link direct to it: http://www.calgoldcoin.com/ 8th coin down on sale list, under denominated reverse. Hope this helps.
Well, I was at my local library today and in the reference books I found a copy of California Fractional Gold by David Doering. It lists your piece as shown (also states that a rarity of 2 = 40 - 45 examples known to exist, 0 = 50+): (This image is taken directly from a copyrighted work and is not intended to harm any of the owner's copyrights and was taken from a public library for the public good.)
Congrats Ryan. These are some tough coins to figure out. I also suggest the Cal Gold site. There are often some good books that turn up in the BG Books tab at the top of the page. The book California Pioneer Gold is pricey but probably one of the best I have come across for reference material. I also feel that most info on the web on these coins is sparse and you'd do best to pick up a book like this. The focus of your photos seem a bit fuzzy yet it looks like this coin has been around the block a few times. Looks to be a lot of hits on the rims and appears to have hairlines all over the obverse. Reverse seems scratched horizontally too. So where did you pick this coin up? From a dealer? At a show? Buying these raw for a beginner seems to defy all conventional wisdom. Are you thinking to send this in for authentification/grading? Do you have any feelings about what grade you might get back? I feel if verified authentic, it comes back genuine, cleaned or damaged. Just based on limited knowledge myself and a quick look with these soft focus images. I'm sure a few others on CT who know a bit more about these gold coins will chime in soon. There are a few threads that have appeared over the last year on California fractional gold. I'll do a search and try to post links to those threads for you soon. I'm eager to hear what others think of this coin.
Ryan, here are a few threads that my search turned up: California Fractionals first territorial gold coin 1872/1 indian Fractional Gold with denomination? 3 California Gold Tokens California Gold... are these real??
Thank you both! And thanks for the direct reference, it's appreciated! I took the pictures under an artificial light... a really bright florescent lamp... so it brought out every scratch and hairline possible. In hand, you can barely see one. I'll try to re-take the pictures later
