Need some help with Burnie Cal gold tokens-better pics
RINATIONALS
Posts: 171 ✭✭✭
Trying to help out a friend disposing with his late father's collection. All of it was pretty easy to figure out except for this grouping of gold tokens. There are 40 pcs, identified on the holders as 4 different types with various dates. From what little I can find on the Web they are made of gold but found very little as to values. All appear to be uncirculated. Any help appreciated as I don't have the Burnie book and they're not in the Gillio/Lecce book. All have the bear reverse and the one I took to get tested on the gun showed as gold. The rest of the collection seemed to have stopped in 1973, that was the last year in his albums and of mint products.
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Comments
To get the most productive responses you may want to add photos of the reverse. Maybe a little closer too.
...a lot closer and sharper photos.
It appears that someone has already attributed the Burnie numbers. Better photos, larger, both obverse and reverse, and they could easily be checked for attribution accuracy.
Do the reverses all show small bears at the bottoms of the designs? From the fronts these seem to be novelty copies made in the 1950's and 60's. If they are, they contain no gold and have little or no value.
The Burnie numbers could represent somebody's misguided attempt to attribute the pieces, or possibly they were used to fraudulently sell the pieces to the late father as genuine California pieces.
Lots of fakes of these coins... and I cannot determine authenticity from those pictures... Cheers, RickO
@RINATIONALS Need better pics.
From what I've heard, if they have a bear (yours do), they are fake.
Authentic California gold pieces (from native gold) normally have a small percentage of iridium. This usually remains even after normal refining using 1850s technology. A competent XRF analysis should also reveal other common trace elements including platinum, osmium, iron, etc.
"If there's a bear, buyer beware."
I think your confusing the coins with the tokens. He knows they are tokens
To clarify: they are all tokens of a sort. What I meant was that in between the original california gold and the 20th century copies, there were 19th century souvenir tokens that are themselves collectible.
The one reverse I see has no dollar, dol, or even a d. Usually not a good sign from what little I know about these. Coinfacts here has photos of these (there are a lot) you can compare yours to the photos and descriptions. Edit to add the bear ain't usually something you want on these either.
A 'bear' reverse is only indicative of a non-coin status.
There are plenty of bear reverses that can be assigned to a Burnie token (or charm). The 25-1 charm referenced above may well be a Burnie 25-3. I guess the stipulation would be that it is, indeed, karat gold. If it's gold plated, or gold filled, it's a modern piece. At least, modern by our coin standards.