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Posted 14 months, 23 days ago
AR8Jason
(1386 items)
Three coins all gold ....
One is a California Gold Piece 1856
Two are Gold US Dollars
One has had a loop added and the back smoothed and carved to make into initial jewelry.
The other is a Gold Dollar from 1852.
I could use any good information, but especially on the California Gold coin. It came from a 92 year old friend and it was wrapped in a paper saying it was from her grandfather who was in California in the 1800s.
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The pictures are kind of hard to see but the coins look like a pretty cool find. Does your camera have a "macro" function that you could use to take close-ups that are in focus?
If your 1856 California Gold piece is genuine, then it was most likely created around that time by a San Francisco jeweler. Even though the picture is blurry, it is definitely of a design that was used back then. This design was pretty common on tokens dated 1852 through 1856. Due to a shortage of real coins, these tokens filled the void and circulated as money at the time. The opening of the San Francisco Mint in 1854 eliminated the need for private coinage and the jewelers stopped making these tokens.
However, later in the 19th century tourism became popular in San Francisco and many tourists wanted some "real gold rush" gold to take home. To capitalize on this many of these tokens were created as souvenirs and back-dated to the 1850s. However they cheated on the gold content and many were actually gold plated over silver or brass. I would think you could tell a souvenir version from the genuine because it would be noticably lighter.
As for the two gold dollars, I know you said the one is an 1852. The obverse on the other one tells you that is if from 1854 or earlier. The design changed during that year to the Indian Princess head.
It would be pretty cool if your 92 year old friend knows more of the story about their grandfather in California. Did the grandfather live in or near San Francisco? Or did the grandfather visit later and got these as souvenirs?
Your coins are very nice I just wanted to tell you.You prob bought them when gold was cheep too.Thats great
1. Camera does have a macro function, and was used, but as these coins are small, and reflective it is hard to get good photos of these. I am going to try different light. It would help if I had a tripod for it that viewed down.
2. On the next two paragraphs, I had read that, I don't know if it was on your sight or in the Red Book.
3. All pieces are genuine. The California Gold piece is the only one that came from that lady. July 4th, she will be 93 and is doing well, volunteering three days a week driving herself etc. The Calif. Gold came in a very small, old leather coin purse and had a piece of paper wrapped around it saying Grand Pa got this in California. No details if he was visiting there or worked there for a time.I will ask her for more details on the coins history. The two one dollar gold coins came from a different source.
I will work on better photos and the details an post back here.
Any idea on the Calif Gold coin's value or will you need to see it clearer first?
Toyman ... when was Gold cheap? The cheapest I remember it was in the 300s. I wish I had bought gold then, and still had it. I did buy silver though at 6.00 a troy ounce round and a couple of silver eagles.
I did buy a rather heavy necklace about a year ago, with the ends missing, my guess is it is 14K, and weighs about an ounce (I weighed it but don't remember what it was) ... and I paid 25 for it.
That is ... 25 cents. It was in a basket of junk jewelry that had been picked over at a flea market. I passed on it when the price was a dollar an item in the baske a couple of weeks before. That day as I dug through the lady's basket she said any thing in there was now a quarter. I bought several things and to round out the next dollar I bought the chain. I was not sure if it was solid, but i took a chance for a quarter.
Now that is when "Gold was cheap."
I just read that the $1.00 coins pictured are the smallest coins the US has ever made. Magnified views are posted with much better focus. Links to see them up close and in detail are below ...
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/14353-gold-coin--california-gold-1856?in=user
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/14355-1852-gold-us-dollar-coin?in=user
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/14356-1850s-us-dollar-gold-coin-the-back-has-b?in=user
According to this website ( http://www.calgoldcoin.com/wreath4a.htm ) your California Gold coin would be worth from $1 to $100. But the website has a 2001 copyright so values may be outdated.
I could not find an exact match to your California Gold token but the closest are the two 1856 tokens listed on the page at the link above. The site's homepage ( http://www.calgoldcoin.com/default.htm ) has an email address for the guy who collects these types of tokens. You may want to contact him to see what he says.
Thank you AC_Dwyer, TTom, and Collecting.