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 Replies: 13 / Views: 1,829 |
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Valued Member
United States
118 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
285 Posts |
Interesting find. Curious to what the experts on here say.
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Rest in Peace
United States
4078 Posts |
Very interesting! It looks like an Indian Princess Head, Large Head but, Copper/Bronze? Beats me.
Lets see what others say.
Edited by bpoc1
09/27/2013 3:37 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3345 Posts |
wow theres something interesting. From the looks I'd say it might be an alloy of something, because I think if it was copper it would be dark green. Might be a mix of copper and something else
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
What you have probably found is a contemporary counterfeit. (it's actually rather crude compared to the real thing) And Civil War soldiers were probably more likely to be paid in paper than gold.
Edited by Conder101
09/28/2013 07:58 am
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
36724 Posts |
Looks like an older counterfeit to me.
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Valued Member
 United States
118 Posts |
Thanks for the replies guys, I guess it could be a contemporary counterfeit. If it is they did an awesome job of copying it. Most of the counterfeit stuff we dig is cast pewter from a mold so a die struck copy is something new for me to find... Dave
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4415 Posts |
It's quite possible that this was a contemporary counterfeit, as Conder surmised. It was probably brass, perhaps gilded, so that would give the appearance of gold. It may have been used as a game counter, too. Why have real coins on the table when counters would suffice?
As for the Civil War soldiers being paid in gold coins ... Can you cite a source for that, SCDave? That's certainly plausible, as the government wasn't issuing paper currency at the outset of the war. Yet, I'm inclined to agree with Conder about the paper. It was common practice for soldiers to send money home, and I doubt that the mailing of gold coins would have been practical. I don't want to change the subject here though.
Interesting piece, SCDave. If memory serves me correct, I may have something similar in one of my boxes. If I can locate one, I'll post a pic.
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Moderator
 United States
16679 Posts |
It also may have been gilded at one time. I have a counterfeit Half Eagle found at a CS campsite.
Gold plating is still visible.
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
As for the Civil War soldiers being paid in gold coins ... Can you cite a source for that, SCDave? That's certainly plausible, as the government wasn't issuing paper currency at the outset of the war. Yet, I'm inclined to agree with Conder about the paper. It was common practice for soldiers to send money home, and I doubt that the mailing of gold coins would have been practical. I don't want to change the subject here though. I don't mind dragging this (slightly) OT - if SCDave's coin is a contemporary counterfeit, as it sure looks to be, then the circumstances surrounding its' creation should be fair game to the historical aspect of numismatics. I'm pretty sure that, early on, both Union and Confederate governments resorted to paper money payment for their troops due to hoarding of precious-metal coins and the need for war-related metals. Keep in mind that the monies laid out were orders of magnitude larger than anything the government had ever done before; in 1861, the total Federal Budget was just over $80 million, and in 1862 the Defense part of the budget alone amounted to $438 million. The total monies paid out to Civil War soldiers (both sides combined) amounted to just over $1 Billion from 1861-1865; contrast this with the total Federal expenditures for the whole last half of the 19th Century (1850-1900) at just over $14 Billion. There simply wasn't enough metal coinage to meet that need. |
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Valued Member
United States
118 Posts |
Hi Guys, I did some checking and it is true that they were paid mostly with paper but they did pay in coins as well and from the amount of dollar gold coins I've seen and heard of coming from camps they were getting them from somewhere :) The game counter theory sounds pretty good but why go through the trouble of making a near perfect set of dies, reeding collar and all, to strike something with no value plus if that were the case, I would think there'd be an endless parade of them on ebay like the old spade guinea counters. I looked at a bunch of 1 dollar gold coin pictures and didn't find any that were a perfect match for this one as far as where certain letters were located in respect to the feathers of the Indian headdress and where the date sits in relation to the bow beneath it so until such a match is found, I'll agree it's probably a counterfeit..... |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3843 Posts |
Very interesting thanks for sharing!
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Valued Member
United States
179 Posts |
The basic red flag here is Gold does not corrode like this. The reeds look wrong. Real gold type 3 dollars have tiny wisp like reeds that are "rounded" somewhat. Copper patterns, strikes for collectors DO exist but not for this year. Soldiers, then and now, did not carry coins in their pockets. Coins, bullet wounds.... do not mix. Gold dollars were always popular for sending through the mail, one of the few things they done well.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4415 Posts |
Here's the piece that the OP's item reminded me of: Sorry for the poor pics, lacking color ... This token is a brassy color, looking akin to gold:   Lacking any denomination, this token was less likely to pass as a counterfeit and far more likely to have been used as a counter or gaming piece. Like most contemporary counters, this one has a reeded edge. Keep in mind that many folks were illiterate in those bygone days and vulnerable as such. |
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Replies: 13 / Views: 1,829 |
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Posted 09/27/2013 2:11 pm
