1854 D California Gold Round

A rarity such as this could have been counterfeited 100 years ago or more. Your piece looks good at a glance but must be professionally authenticated. If you are not a member of PCGS, NGC, or ANA then I'd try ANACS who will at least confirm whether or not it is a genuine piece.

By all means post any further questions here. We can offer advice and opinions to help. No one can authenticate it from photos however. I will say it does not look like an obvious fake or copy of the real deal. Good luck!

P.S. I took the liberty (no pun intended) of uploading pics of a known genuine piece and pasted them below your images. Everyone can have a look; I'll try to find better pics of a genuine piece as well.

Thanks for the info and the help with the pics. What does the D stand for? Also what's the difference between the 422a and 423?Thanks again.

Dave

The D is the die cutters initial.

The OP coin appears to match the BG-423 posted in BH1964's second post. I don't know which variety he posted in his first post but as to differences they both appear to come from the same reverse die but there are differences in the placement of the stars and the D on the obverse. Most noticeable is the bottom left star. On the OP coin and BG-423 it points directly at the point of the bust while on the rare piece in BH1964's first pictures it is slightly above the point of the bust. the relationship of the botttom right star and the hair curl is also different on both pieces. on the rare variety the point of the coronet is almost centered between two stars while on BG-423 it is noticeable closer to the star on the left. On the 423 the D is well centered under the bust while on the rare variety it is slightly higher and a little more to the right.

-Donald H. Kagin's, "Private Gold Coins and Patterns of the United States"

Now the question, is it a BG-422a or BG-423 and is it not a cast copy from now or yesteryear? Either way, you won't sell that coin for the money the BG-422a or BG-423 are worth unless you have it slabbed and authenticated so I would start that process as soon as I could to get in the know I what I have.

Don't sell it until you know what you have..genuine or not.

highly questionable

stoogeco, honestly, do you want the cash?

If yes, go to HA.com and assign this to the upcoming January FUN show.

You'll mail to them as is, pick a TPG, they will handle all submission of grading for you and your coin will wind up on the auction block during the hobby's hottest annual show. Whether you have a BG-423 and it brings you $1200 as BH thinks or you have a BG-422a and you wind up with $12,000, you'll be happy if cash is the goal.

Keep us updated of course because as you can tell, we love this stuff!