Of all the scams on social media and online auctions, one in particular illustrates how easily hobbyists are duped due to numismatic ignorance: fake pioneer or California Fractional Gold.
I have been writing about this for decades. You can find this recent article on Proxiblog and this one on Coin World.
No where is this ignorance more on display than on Facebook coin groups, eBay and Hibid.com.
Before showing the scam, let’s begin with some information about California Fractional Gold, referencing one of the top articles about it by Bob Leonard, titled “Private Gold Coins of California,” which cites my published work:
Finally, we have the so-called “tokens,” condemned in the Red Book and by Bugeja. These began in 1872, following the 1871 arrest of jewelers (in Leavenworth, Kansas!) who were making “California gold pieces.” Round dollars were discontinued that year, and one maker introduced the head of Washington to avoid too much similarity to U.S. coins. No enforcement appeared in California until 1876, though, but this led to the abandonment of octagonal dollars also, backdating, and the introduction of denomination-less pieces reading ¼ CAL GOLD, etc. instead of ¼ DOLLAR. Modern “tokens” do not even contain gold.
A good reference is Mike Locke’s website, http://www.calgoldcoin.com/ .
These coveted coins have been counterfeited since the 19th century. It began with jewelers minting their own fakes and selling them for more than face value. Leonard writes, “With citizens indifferent as to the value of small change, jewelers stepped in to make their own quarters, halves, and dollars—though also overvalued.”
That practice continued into the 20th century with souvenir tokens made of brass, gilt plating or low-grade gold sold at truck stops and gas stations along the route to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Other tourist sites, like Yellowstone, soon followed suit. Americans love the Old West, and these tokens came to represent that.
Typical fantasy pieces carried no denomination but suggested them with reverses stating 1/4 Bear, 1/2 Bear and One Bear, depicted by an amateurish design, like this plated one:
In 2011, NGC ran an article titled “Fantasy and Souvenir California Fractional Gold,” noting:
Many of the 20th century tokens feature a design that does not resemble either circulating United States coinage (many of the Period One and Two issues were designed to blend in). For example, some have a bear on the reverse and others have a crudely engraved portrait of an Indian or Liberty. Most of these are made of gilt base metals although a few are struck on low fineness gold planchets. While a handful of these, such as Hart’s “Coins of the Golden West” are quite collectible, the vast majority have little numismatic value.
https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/2349/Fantasy-and-Souvenir-California-Fractional-Gold/
Nevertheless, NGC and other holdering companies further confused the issue by using the term “dated” for tokens made in the late 19th and early 20th century, as in this example:
Twenty years ago my local coin shop was selling similar souvenir pieces for $1 each. These differed from authentic California gold coins having a denomination of 1/4, 1/2 and 1 dollar (sometimes abbreviated as D. or Dol.), as in this quarter dollar:
To help hobbyists distinguish between real and fantasy California Gold, Walter Breen and Ronald J. Gillio catalogued them in their reference book, California Pioneer Fractional Gold. The abbreviation “B-G” designated specific types, based on their surname initials.
You can find a complete list of their “B-G” coins on PCGS’s CoinFacts.
Even if you have the Breen/Gillio book or access the PCGS site, you still need numismatic education to identify the specific B-G number. Each of the hundreds of examples have slight variations. A few do not even have dates, as in this coin:
The process of identifying them is tedious, involving patience and skill. Social media or internet cannot help. Reading can.
Since coin collecting has gone online, so has numismatic literacy. Sellers routinely misidentify fantasy and fake tokens as the real deal. The whole issue of what is and what is not authentic has become arduous, as fewer people have read the Red Book (A Guide Book of United States Coins) or subscribe to numismatic publications.
That’s where inexperience and ignorance come into play.
The latest ruse concerns purchasing plated tokens from China selling for under $30, as in this set:
Scammers buy them, remove tokens from the case, and offer them as single lots on eBay, Etsy, HiBid and other venues.
Here’s the reverse of that set so you can identify specific examples offered for sale as genuine:
Some of these fake tokens are being sold for hundreds of dollars. They succeed by fooling amateur collectors lacking experience and knowledge. Some examples:
Social media influencers on TikTok and YouTube have generated more hype, falsely claiming that ultra rare errors like the 1943 copper cent or 1944 steel cent can be found in pocket change. This has inspired newbies using microscopes to identify die cracks, misaligned collars, machine doubling and other non-valuable/face value coins. Many also use CoinSnap, a mobile app that uses artificial intelligence to identify coins and provide worth, often wildly overvalued and erroneous.
CoinSnap is of little use when it comes to fake California Gold.
The combination of AI, social media and human ignorance has resulted in an explosion of counterfeit coins, especially from China. Thankfully there are experts like Jack Young’s Facebook “Fun with Fakes” and online publications, like Proxibid, to warn about scams, hype and deception.
Coin collecting is serious business. According to recent market research, Americans spend an estimated $28.15 billion on the hobby annually. Such investment requires education. Seek it.
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