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 Replies: 11 / Views: 7,039 |
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
Can anybody help identify this coin? I am out of state right now, so these are my only pictures, I was given the coin and told that it was valuable, but there was no history on it. I don't want to pull it from the casing because it is a family gift, but would really like to know what it is. It has 1849 on the bottom, looks like a liberty gold, but only has 9 stars. It is about 13mm and the back has a wreath, but is covered by the encasing. I'm fairly certain it is just a reproduction, but don't understand why somebody would go to that length and not put 13 stars on it. Thanks.  Edited by Ole rusty
10/15/2012 01:00 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1374 Posts |
Yeah, that is a pretty crude reproduction. However, it doesn't mean that it isn't made of gold. It could still be worth melt, even if not .900 fine.
Is it a cuff link?
Edited by Drsandman2
10/15/2012 04:46 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
I agree, it looks like it is in a ring or pendant and it was probably not intended to be counterfeit just a "coin" (for lack of better word) that kind of replicated a known design in ways to be worn as jewelery. Allot of the coins that are made especially for jewelery are made of gold and the actual content of the original coins but they are not real coins. I remember when all the girls wanted a panda ring years ago (now that I think of it, about 30 years ago..GOD I am getting old), there were allot of fake panda coin rings where the panda coins were just reproduction coins inside the ring. I am guessing this is because it was allot cheaper to make a coin that looked close to it and even be the same composition than it was to buy the real coin and place it in the ring
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New Member
 United States
9 Posts |
So no chance that it is an 1849 California gold dollar?
I was just told that, but I don't want to take it out of the holder to check.
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
Drsandman, it's actually a very nice tie tack that my grandpa wore for many years. The funny thing is that it is more valuable to me sentimentally than it could be financially, so it would be good not to be tempted by it being a valuable coin.
Bryan, thanks for the clarification. I'm sure you both are correct. It just amazes me how good the detail is and I never knew people would go to that length. My naïveté
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Forum Mom
 United States
5877 Posts |
The earliest dated fractional gold is 1852. I believe that even the undated ones only go back to 1852.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
I was actually going to edit my post after I posted it because I thought of the Californian Gold coins after the fact. I went looking and I could find nothing about one like yours. I know the gold rush started in 1849 but I could find no coins under a $5.00 with the date of 1849 and all of them have at least 12 stars. There were only a couple I found that was listed as "California Gold" with that date and only one with pictures on collectors corner. They do list the Californian Gold to run between 1849 to 1855 as does the PCGS Price guide but again the only thing with a 1849 date is a $5.00 coin and I believe it would be pretty big for a tie tack. Not to mention the pictures I have found of the $5.00 coins all have at least 12 stars. Can you tell us the size of the coin or even the whole tie tack so we can see if it could even be a $5.00 coin, but it doesn't look that big to me Edit: Here is one allot like yours that says it is made for a charm http://stacksbowers.com/auctions/Au...LotID=231129  Quote:
Description: One of the charms made much more recently with a somewhat crude head of Liberty, nine stars surrounding, date below, reverse with an open wreath, shield at base and ONE at the center, stamped 9K in tiny letters on the lower right side of the wreath.
Hopefully this will be enough to remove the temptation to destroy a family heirloom because even if it were real there is others out there but there is only one with the family history yours has |
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New Member
United States
9 Posts |
Bryan, thanks for the great info. I'm sure that's probably it. Mine is approx. 13mm and looks exactly like the one you sent. What I can see of the back looks the same too.
I agree about the sentimental value and wouldn't have torn it up for that reason alone. However... I don't know how I would've felt had it been worth a lot. Thanks for the deep research.
Btw, does that one pictured say 'Columbia' in the crown?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1374 Posts |
Holy smokes! Great call there Bryan! Ole rusty, can you snap a couple of better pics?
And yeah, I would say the headband says Columbia.
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New Member
Canada
6 Posts |
Hello Folks, I know this is an ancient post, but I thought I would sign up to Coin Community to lend a hand to this topic. Ole Rusty's piece was manufactured by Jacoby Jewelers of British Columbia, Canada. For the complete research (and I mean complete) a document written by a Mr. Ronald Greene (1990, 1992) and Mike Locke (updated in 2001) can be found at this link http://www.calgoldcoin.com/oldhtml/canada.htm. My piece is described as a (Jay) Roe No. 8 or Ronald Greene No. 10 and is not encased in jewelry.   To make a long story short, Jacoby Jewelers only ever marketed this "piece" as jewelry. But, if you read the article, it's got all the juice; Secret Service, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, swindlers, etc. I contacted both authors, one offered me $75 USD and the other told me I was wasting my money having it certified. On certification. From my many hours of researching these pieces, it appears only NCG and ANACS will certify (token?). Not sure about PCGS. ICCS and CCCG (Canada) will not certify. Prices from antique dealers, jewelers, ebay, etc. range from $112.75 USD to over $2,000 USD. I got this piece from a hand-me-down collection of my Grandfathers (a prospector and numismatist) and I may certify it to hang in my "coin collecting" den along with his antique dipping needle....keeping the flame alive! Cheers, Peter, Guelph, Ontario, Canada |
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Moderator
United States
14463 Posts |
 pg13 Its always nice to have more information  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4932 Posts |
We need more people like you in the forums, haha.  Awesome ID! |
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Replies: 11 / Views: 7,039 |
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Posted 10/15/2012 06:07 am
