Real or fake California fractional gold

erwindoc

From my mother-in-laws estate. Chain and holder are 14k. I suspect coin is not real, but wanted more opinions.

jmlanzaf

Not a real coin.

Some are made of low grade gold. Have it tested

MsMorrisine

there are plated junk stuff and there are "tribute" pieces that are gold but not period pieces. these need expert opinions.

TomB

Absolutely not a genuine California fractional. It has every appearance of being quite modern.

jonathanb

"if it has a bear, beware"

https://boards.ngccoin.com/topic/256987-need-help-with-a-14-california-gold-with-bear-is-it-real/

Smudge

No dollar or dol, or denomination beyond 1/2 is also a tell. Token.

johnny9434

The girlfriend would like that

calgolddiver

all of the above responses are correct.

Steven59

Right - the Bear gives it away..............

MsMorrisine

@calgolddiver said:
all of the above responses are correct.

does it have gold content?

PerryHall

@MsMorrisine said:

@calgolddiver said:
all of the above responses are correct.

does it have gold content?

Most replicas are brass with some being gold plated. Most were made in the 1960's and were backdated to the goldrush era. Check out PCGS Coin Facts where there is a section listing all the known genuine California small denomination gold coins by BG (Breen-Gillio) number. They show pics of each genuine coin and if your coin isn't shown, it probably isn't a real coin.

thebeav

By itself, a bear is not the definitive identifier for genuine 'charm' pieces. Those with a bear are not going to be 'coins', but they may be gold 'charms or tokens' . As such, they can have decent value. Even though this one may be priced a bit high, but as a 66, maybe not.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/356954347952?_skw=cal+gold+charm&itmmeta=01KZA7HSVE9CMBFBE0EABDRRXG&hash=item531c2319b0:g:Yc4AAOSwx7BoMLGs&itmprp=enc:AQALAAAA8GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xD/1YJpqHbvm/iooGGpdPVLegfvYOpElwLCtyxJustEesp3YZMl5+E98fY981dE80tL7al3v0dQpZpYEG9rmvwZbekEpFSAUkfvMBZBjjfnTe6B3bKNo8CbrLKnzKa3VeOLy1N5THJPfatSrlFU/pUrT/mZ82Mz5ia6V5deCWeSP4DsCbz9FajRoSTBJK4oDb5heaLEJhyq80h4rqEDl6Lod3M5bIHOR2D3HIhG39w8zemaQbhmtAJy+YS4w+++lKicU55EmKExjGxEFPVBAawzLk0n/4UukRH/4oSn3lyxqg==|tkp:Bk9SR_Sdx8f6Zw

Smudge

@PerryHall said:

@MsMorrisine said:

@calgolddiver said:
all of the above responses are correct.

does it have gold content?

Most replicas are brass with some being gold plated. Most were made in the 1960's and were backdated to the goldrush era. Check out PCGS Coin Facts where there is a section listing all the known genuine California small denomination gold coins by BG (Breen-Gillio) number. They show pics of each genuine coin and if your coin isn't shown, it probably isn't a real coin.

It’s a pretty long list.

MsMorrisine

between the years of the territorial gold and the 60s plate junk are gold content "tribute" pieces. you need an expert here

calgolddiver

@thebeav said:
By itself, a bear is not the definitive identifier for genuine 'charm' pieces. Those with a bear are not going to be 'coins', but they may be gold 'charms or tokens' . As such, they can have decent value. Even though this one may be priced a bit high, but as a 66, maybe not.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/356954347952?_skw=cal+gold+charm&itmmeta=01KZA7HSVE9CMBFBE0EABDRRXG&hash=item531c2319b0:g:Yc4AAOSwx7BoMLGs&itmprp=enc:AQALAAAA8GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xD/1YJpqHbvm/iooGGpdPVLegfvYOpElwLCtyxJustEesp3YZMl5+E98fY981dE80tL7al3v0dQpZpYEG9rmvwZbekEpFSAUkfvMBZBjjfnTe6B3bKNo8CbrLKnzKa3VeOLy1N5THJPfatSrlFU/pUrT/mZ82Mz5ia6V5deCWeSP4DsCbz9FajRoSTBJK4oDb5heaLEJhyq80h4rqEDl6Lod3M5bIHOR2D3HIhG39w8zemaQbhmtAJy+YS4w+++lKicU55EmKExjGxEFPVBAawzLk0n/4UukRH/4oSn3lyxqg==|tkp:Bk9SR_Sdx8f6Zw

Personally I would never consider this type of token to add to my collection (I focus on BG numbers only) ... to each their own. Interesting example though.