What Would Make A Coin Look Like This?

The seller stating it is removed from jewelry can be a cover to hide the fact that this might be a casted coin. Pretty much trying to hide in plain sight kind of thing. Anyway,would not spend that much money on a raw gold coin. Especially one that looked like acid has been eating away at the surfaces for years.

There are many harsh chemicals that could have produced this effect. It may have been a disaster and was treaated to "clean up" the overall appearance before it was mounted. Just a guess.

It's so ugly I have doubts about it being a copy. The dentils are sharp, but the stars and the hair look like they're globbed with excess metal. I had a silver dollar which had been plated to hide a plug but it looked a lot better than this.

I have a very good friend who is a doctor at Mayo Clinic who uses every chemical known to man.

When we were working on a book (on tokens) together, we often went to his lab to take the photos. Back when you had to have a real photo set up to do so.

He told me that the ONLY thing that could dissolve gold was an acid called Aqua Regia. I don't remember what the components were (other acids, I do remember) but he was quite insistent that nothing else would dissolve gold.

I think the chances of a gold coin coming in contact with such a brew is pretty darned slim.

I wouldn't buy it unless it was authenticated.

Just looks like a cast counterfeit.

excellent point

Aqua Regia is a combination of one part nitric acid and three parts hydrochloric acid. The former is capable of dissolving copper, but the latter is not and I can't see a proper alloy mix being selectively dissolved in this fashion. I'd be surprised if this coin is gold.