Tag Archives: California gold

Top Pop 1863 Restrike $1 Cal Gold

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Proxiblog’s Michael Bugeja has one of the top California Fractional Gold collections, but his highest rated coin in that category is actually a restrike: 1863 $1, minted with the original dies in 1906. His restrike, depicted above, came in at MS66, a top pop.

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.

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 FinenessMade from native California gold, which is approximately 0.880 fine.Struck from gold of a finer quality than the originals.
Strike QualityCharacterized 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 ValueA very scarce and expensive coin, with relatively few examples known to exist.Considered common relative to the original. Values are significantly lower.
Collector PurposeCreated 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 IdentificationIdentification 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.

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.”) 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.

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.

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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Proxiblog also has hundreds of followers on Facebook Coin Groups. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.

You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.

California Gold Scam

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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.

If you like posts like this, subscribe so you can be informed whenever there is a new article or column.

Proxiblog also has hundreds of followers on Facebook Coin Groups. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.

You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.

California Gold Coins v. Souvenir Tokens

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California Gold Coins, also known as pioneer gold, are among the most sought-after Americana coins minted during the Wild West pioneer era. Unfortunately for collectors, online auctions often are flooded with modern replicas and tokens.

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.”) 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.

Here’s is an example of a token vs. a real coin:

Here’s another example of an authentic California gold coin:

Also, California gold coins are designated with “B-G,” initials from the last names of Walter Breen (“B”) and Ronald J. Gillio (“G”) who wrote the reference book, California Pioneer Fractional Gold.

It’s difficult to identify those BG numbers without the book. But you also can use the illustrated PCGS database for the series, comparing your raw coin to the denomination, year, value and type.

To learn more about small and token gold, visit Mike Locke’s California Gold website. He describes dozens of tokens and their values.

If you like posts like this, subscribe so you can be informed whenever there is a new article or column.

Proxiblog also has thousands of followers on Facebook Coin Groups and social media. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.

You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.