Holy California Gold, CCF! - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 7 / Views: 1,276
ninamason Pillar of the Community United States 1227 Posts	Posted 12/30/2012 12:59 am So my mom found her stash of old coins! They include an XF-ish Morgan, a lowball Barber quarter (I looked it up on PGCS and it just about matches their FR-02), and a '64 Kennedy, along with a handful of wheats I really should have asked to pick through for dates. And then . . . there's this. My mom has had it tested in the past and confirmed that it's real gold; one jeweler offered her $50 for it, while another suggested it might be worth as much as $1500 but wouldn't buy it without, in her words, "having someone else attribute it" (I'm assuming she means he wouldn't buy it unslabbed). I forgot to ask her to get a picture with another coin in the background for perspective, but it's SWIMMING in the dime/cent flip I put it in for her after we (carefully!) got it out of the tie pin, and I'd say it's about the size of my thumbnail--definitely smaller than a dime. What do you guys make of this? Value, history, etc.? That last one is being held by my mom, who wears a size 5 1/2 ring. Her hands are pretty darned small. Report this Post to the Staff

amida17 Pillar of the Community United States 4897 Posts	Posted 12/30/2012 01:06 am Neat find but I believe it is a modern replica. To my knowledge (albeit limited) no contemporary pieces were minted with the fox on the reverse. Edited by amida17 12/30/2012 01:06 am Report this Post to the Staff
ninamason Pillar of the Community United States 1227 Posts	Posted 12/30/2012 01:11 am Is that a fox? I thought it was a bear. Report this Post to the Staff
amida17 Pillar of the Community United States 4897 Posts	Posted 12/30/2012 01:19 am bear, fox...? same conclusion. The poor details of the obverse are also disconcerting... Report this Post to the Staff
Gyrene7483 Pillar of the Community United States 1704 Posts	Posted 12/30/2012 01:21 am The piece you have is a token. All of the original California gold coins were denominated 1/4 dollar, 1/2 dollar or 1 dollar. Your piece lacks that one important detail. There is a section of the Red Book toward the back which has a good brief history of these and is a good read. It says "Beware of extremely common modern replicas (Often having a bear in the design), which have very little numismatic value." Sorry for the "bad" news but, it is still a very interesting item. Ed ANA LM-3175 Report this Post to the Staff
tgauchsin Valued Member United States 344 Posts	Posted 12/30/2012 08:30 am Being that the coin is California gold, I would suspect that the animal on the reverse is the California Golden Bear. Report this Post to the Staff
Windycity Valued Member United States 366 Posts	Posted 12/30/2012 09:43 am Definitely a replica but obviously has great sentimental value. Report this Post to the Staff
Tom B Valued Member United States 168 Posts	Posted 12/30/2012 12:31 pm This is a modern token that is not from the nineteenth century, but was likely produced sometime in the last 40-years. If it has any appreciable amount of gold in it at all then it is of finer quality than most of these. The person who gave an estimate of $1,500 was far off. These are generally worth only a few dollars unless there is some gold in them. Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 7 / Views: 1,276

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