Those tiny denomination gold coins are alluring. They bespeak the pioneer days of America, beginning with 1849 Gold Rush in California showing future riches of what was then still a new country in the West.
But identifying these coins takes some still and research. We’ll walk you through that in this article, showing real, fake and restruck California fractional gold.
Authentic pioneer gold has a denomination on it, such as 1/4, 1/2 and 1 DOLLAR. The word “dollar” is sometimes abbreviated as D. or DOL. If you have a bear on it, without a denomination, you have a souvenir or a counterfeit token.
To show the research involved in identifying what you have, we’ll begin with Proxiblog’s Michael Bugeja–a top collector of these coins–showing his highest rated coin in that category: an 1863 $1, MS66.
PCGS has only authenticated 2 of the original 1863 $1. In fact, only a handful have ever come up for auction, with this MS62 as the highest rated.
That’s when Bugeja realized the rims of his coin and shape differed from the rarity. Upon further research, he discovered that his coin actually was a restrike, struck with original dies in 1906. But it had a PCGS number on it. And that helps when selling. Turns out his coin was a top pop.
The original 1863 California fractional gold coin has slightly less gold purity than the 1906 restrike, at 88%. Here are main differences:
| Feature | Original 1863 California Gold $1 (BG-1307) | Knoll 1906 Restrike (BG-1307A) |
|---|---|---|
| Gold Fineness | Made from native California gold, which is approximately 0.880 fine. | Struck from gold of a finer quality than the originals. |
| Strike Quality | Characterized by a “business strike” quality. Can exhibit signs of wear, die clash marks, or weak areas due to the small size and era of production. | Struck with fresher dies and often displays sharper details and higher quality. |
| Rarity and Value | A very scarce and expensive coin, with relatively few examples known to exist. | Considered common relative to the original. Values are significantly lower. |
| Collector Purpose | Created for commercial circulation to meet the demand for small-denomination coins in California during the Civil War. | Produced for the collector market using original or reworked dies long after the 1864 act made private coin production illegal. |
| Expert Identification | Identification can rely on the quality of the strike, the level of wear, and die varieties, sometimes requiring expert examination. | Attributed by experts based on specific die characteristics and the known provenance from Herman Kroll. |
An original 1863 at MS62 retails for about $700 whereas the MS66 top pop restrike sells for about half of that.
As previously mentioned, hobbyists collect California Fractional Gold because of its Americana pioneer history. However, many newer collectors confuse latter 20th century inexpensive charms and souvenirs for the latter.
Here’s a souvenir token billed as an 1852 ½ dollar California gold coin.
Every word of that description is wrong. The token was not manufactured in 1852; is not a half dollar; not a coin; not gold; and does not come from California. Many of these are manufactured in China or sold by a U.S. tourist shop. They typically are gold plated or brass, as these samples:
Unscrupulous sellers buy these replicas, take them out of the holder, and then offer or consign them individually as California fractional gold. (See “California Gold Scam.”)
Here’s is an example of a token vs. a real coin:
If your small coin has a bear on the reverse, it is probably brass or gold plated; you do not have pioneer gold.
If you do have a gold coin like this with a denomination on it, as the “1/4 Dollar Cal” above, you then have to do tedious research to find out what, exactly, you have, using PCGS CoinFacts comprehensive listing of California Fractional Gold–fractional, because you can have 1/4, 1/2 and $1.
PCGS uses the “BG” designator, named after Breen-Gillio, a cataloging system created by coin experts Walter Breen and Ronald J. Gillio. You will find hundreds of listings.
Almost all of the entries have photographs. You will have to compare closely because many issues resemble each other. Start with the denomination. Then the year. Then whether your coin is octogonal or round.
To learn more about small and token gold, visit Mike Locke’s California Gold website. He describes dozens of tokens and their values.
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