My son was using my detector and found a very small octagonal (coin ?) It has an Indian with head dress on one side, and 1853 and California Gold on the other. Its so small I don't know if I can take a picture of it. Any idea what it is,would be grateful.
http://www.calgoldcoin.com/
Yep sounds like goldrush token. California fractional gold. Check out the above link.
Love those tokens. Please post a pic if you can.
Before getting too excited, read all of the sources given above. There were some real gold ones, and many more brass ones made later as souvenirs.
John in ID