What a SHAME!!!

I have seen a lot of gold dollars made into jewelry but this is a first for me...

:so-sad::so-sad::so-sad::so-sad:

 

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interesting, but a shame


wait!

an 1857 D!


ouch!

 

It looks like the hardware is pretty old, so I'm assuming whoever made it has either passed away, or the statute of limitations for giving them a public flogging has expired. What a shame...

 

I almost let out an audible GASP when I saw that D sitting down there .... to think Denver was striking coins all the way back then!!

 

Ewwwwwwwww what a hatchet job.... :dead-horse:

 

IMO, it looks like a cast fake.

 

It's most definitely a genuine piece.

 

Whizzed to death?

 

Did somebody underline the D mintmark with a pen to boot?

 

Just looks like it was made nice and shiny on the obverse... there are some die clashes on the reverse that you do not see on cast fakes.

 

I'd try to get as much of that solder off as possible and toss it in my pocket for a couple years. Enough detail left that a few years of circulation should land you a nice 15-20 grade coin... if you can get the solder off.

 

on 1st look i thought what a hack job on the soldering. then saw date and d and my thoughts became unprintable here.

 

That's a nice pin.

 

Actually I see it a bit different. Coin jewelry is a part of our history and heritage. Sure it may be a $2000 coin IF it didn't have solder and IF it wasn't all polished and scratched, but IF a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump its butt when it walked. It was turned into jewelry when it was still worth, well a dollar. So it is a bit different than someone in modern day times taking a rare problem free coin and turning it into jewelry. This coin was NEVER worth close to what a problem free example would be, so no harm no foul.

I really don't know the worth of the coin in that shape, but I am assuming melt. So if it were mine, I would buff up the face and make it as shiney and attractive as possible and have it be used as it was intended. As a beautiful piece of jewelry

 

Whoa...that's just WRONG! And a crappy job on the construction to boot.

 

We can't know that with any degree of certainty. Maybe a jewelry expert could find hints from the soldering job done. But I take the other side of the argument, and I see a "lost" Dahlonega gold dollar that only had a mintage of 3000+ coins, of which far less survive.

 

Er that D would indicate Dahlonega, Gerogia, not Denver in this case. (Denver wasn't minting any coins until 1906). Assuming it's genuine of course. The use of a "D" mintmark predated the existence of the Denver Mint; it was used on gold coins minted in Dahlonega, GA from 1838 until 1861. Since this mint was already closed when the Denver Mint opened in 1906, they just used D for Denver as well. Since both mints weren't operating at the same time there's no possibility of ambiguity in what the D stands for on any given coin.

If it's real it's extremely rare; Dahlonega only minted about 3500 of these in 1857. Likely few survive as most of Dahlonega and Charlotte's gold coins were melted down during the Civil War.

Keep in mind it might not even be a "fake" in the sense it was made to fool anyone; it might possibly just be a reproduction done for the sake of decoration. I'm kind of doubtful on the authenticity; the lettering looks a little too blobby on the obverse and the D mintmark seems too big as compared to pictures of real ones. But I can't see the point of making a numismatic forgery just to turn it into jewelry, so I'm leaning more to the explanation of it just being a decorative replica not intended to fool anyone into thinking it was genuine.

If it's real it would be very valuable even in this condition!

 

Ugh...I just read an article about the Charlotte and Dahlonega minted golds of the day. The smith putting that piece together didn't give any thought to the rarity, it was just another gold coin to use for his craft.

 

That'd be Dahlonega, GA there bud lol.
The old mint burned down in 1878 but the current Price Memorial Building sits on its original foundation and is North Georgia College and State University's presidential office. Been in there a couple times and its really cool to know there used to be a mint there.

 

Er that winky face emoticon should've told you something there lol!