What is this coin? Please help

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I just bought part of my father's coin collection, including a small handful of gold coins. I'm pretty sure this one is gold. It's very tiny. Looks like the edge was slightly trimmed at some point. I cannot find any info on it anywhere. I'm guessing some U.S. state coin like a California gold coin but not sure. Which brings up another question. Why doesn't this site have things like California gold coins listed in its data base?

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/tokens-235.html#devise3186

They are on here (a 1/4 Dollar is anyway) ...
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces76030.html
and yours is 1/2 Dollar 1865 ; just that no member has one so no page yet created.
Though not sure if yours is genuine, especially where R merges with wreath.
Also see the Comments section on that page. :)
Thank you ZacUK, much appreciated!

I didn't think to look at "Tokens" because I didn't think this could possibly be classified as a token.

I'm stlil very confused. Who made these things, are they U.S. government or made by a State or are they private like the Franklin Mint? There's scant little info on that 1/4 dollar page.

The picture on that page is remarkably similar though, and confirms that the edge on mine has been trimmed.

How could I tell if it is counterfeit? Are counterfeit ones still made of gold? What's the chance that 15 different ones showed up in 1/4 dollar but no 1/2 dollar ever showed up? My father has had this for at least 40 years so it can't be a recent counterfeit.

I see it has Krauss number, so doesn't that mean this one should also be in the Krauss catalog? Does anybody have that catalog from the 19th century? I have 20th century only.

Searching online I found a couple examples:

http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=239396
https://coins.ha.com/itm/california-fractional-gold/1865-50c-liberty-round-50-cents-bg-1005-low-r5-au55-pcgs-pcgs-population-6-32-ngc-census-0-1-10834-from/a/1116-11424.s?hdnJumpToLot=1x=0&y=0#

The second link indicates PCGS knows what to do with these, so I guess I'll send it to them.

Thanks again, Greg
What you have there seems to be a California fractional gold piece, there are over a thousand varieties with denominations ranging from 1/4 dollar to one dollar and normally feature Liberty or a native American with a headdress.

They were made privately and have no connection to the US mint and the first ones to appear were used in commerce, but the later varieties were mainly used as souvenirs or in jewellery.

Most American auction houses and collectors won't even touch them if they aren't authenticated, and when they do appear, they sell for about $200 up.

There is a catalog but I don't know what the name of it is, the only information I can give is that the coins are identified with the prefix BG, just like the Krause catalog uses KM

https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/california-fractional-gold-pscid-84
Here is an article which should give you some more information.
Buying gold and electrum coins 700bc-1950ad
Muenzenhamster is a healthy part of our community and should not be censored
Thank you that's extremely awesomly helpful!
Quote: "ggrant"​I just bought part of my father's coin collection, including a small handful of gold coins. I'm pretty sure this one is gold. It's very tiny. Looks like the edge was slightly trimmed at some point. I cannot find any info on it anywhere. I'm guessing some U.S. state coin like a California gold coin but not sure. Which brings up another question. Why doesn't this site have things like California gold coins listed in its data base?

​Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!




​This item falls into the category of "Private and Territorial Gold," which is currently listed under "Tokens" because it is not a US Mint product. There are a huge number of fakes, and while I can't say if your example is a fake, I have my doubts. The design is very crude, there should be a bar between the "1" and the "2," and the date 1861 is unusual for the type. You can find more info here: http://www.pcgscoinfacts.com/Hierarchy.aspx?c=1659&title=California%20Fractional%20Gold
Thank you for the information, that's a whole universe of coins I wasn't aware of. But I think they're pretty cool. Anything made of gold is at least pretty cool ;-)
I'll send it to PCGS it sounds like they know what to do with these.
I'll post a follow-up when I have a resolution.
Thanks again everybody for your help!
Quote: "ggrant"​​I see it has Krauss number, so doesn't that mean this one should also be in the Krauss catalog? Does anybody have that catalog from the 19th century? I have 20th century only.


​They are indeed in the Krause: Krause Standard Catalog of World Coins 1801 - 1900, 7th edition (2013), page 1216 and 1217.
There are a lot of 1/2 dollars there but NONE with the date 1861! And your design isn't there either: your coin has 9 stars on the obverse, the coin in the Krause which resembles most like yours has 10 stars on the obverse. In fact, from all the types on the pages there isn't any with 9 stars on the obverse.
So your coin is a bit of a mystery.

Correction: the date on your coin is 1865. But then there is still the problem with the 9 stars in stead of 10 stars.
Interesting that certainly is close. I thought it was 1851 but I guess it could be any number from 0 to 9. Strange on the 9 star thing. The catalog indicates two counterfeits that were going around but those are 1854 and 1873. The 1854 should have 12 or 13 stars so it's not that one. And it's definitley not 1873. It's 1850-something. So if it is counterfeit, then why don't they have it listed? And if it's not counterfeit, why don't they have it listed? Definitely still a bit of a mystery, although I know an awful lot more than I did this morning. Thanks everybody!
Quote: "Essor Prof"​Correction: the date on your coin is 1865. But then there is still the problem with the 9 stars in stead of 10 stars.
​I'm not sure that last digit is a "5" but even if it is, I'm not sure an 1865 1/2 Dollar exists (even if Krause lists it).
Quote: "ggrant"​Interesting that certainly is close. I thought it was 1851 but I guess it could be any number from 0 to 9. Strange on the 9 star thing. The catalog indicates two counterfeits that were going around but those are 1854 and 1873. The 1854 should have 12 or 13 stars so it's not that one. And it's definitley not 1873. It's 1850-something. So if it is counterfeit, then why don't they have it listed? And if it's not counterfeit, why don't they have it listed? Definitely still a bit of a mystery, although I know an awful lot more than I did this morning. Thanks everybody!
​My final suggestion is to try to find a library (or local coin club), which has this book:
https://www.amazon.com/California-Pioneer-Fractional-Walter-Breen/dp/0943161908
Quote: "Steve27"​​​I'm not sure that last digit is a "5" but even if it is, I'm not sure an 1865 1/2 Dollar exists (even if Krause lists it).



​The last digit is indeed hard to see. By elimination I would say it's a 3, 5 or 7 (but 1863 is not on the Krause list, and it indeed looks more like a 7 than a 5).

A couple of things odd with your sample.
- Amount of stars is not consistent with other samples
- Year 1865 - Though i am not sure its 1865 since that would make me think its a later reproduction
- Letter "R" so far to right and bleeding into wreath (even with the compression of the "soft" metal gold its still too far to right)
- Entire reverse design including wreath seems too far to right as well.

I would get it looked at professionally.

Good luck
I sell my Duplicate or Un-Needed coins on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/str/coinsandmorenj.
I ran across similar coins in this auction:

http://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2982T/lots/1168

Not that it helps identify it, but it's the only other place I've ever seen anything close and it's not in any of the standard lists, as discussed earlier in this thread.

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