Hat pin and Califoria gold

Greengoose · Sep 27, 2014

Hat pin and California gold

Found this hat pin the bottom of an old old trunk. Almost tossed it away but then dug out my microscope for a closer look. Seems to be a California fractional gold coin but value is under the pin.
Diameter is about .44 inch.

g-olden years · Sep 27, 2014

Hope you find out more about it - I've never seen anything like this! :icon_thumright:

Congrats!

Andi

CRUSADER · Sep 28, 2014

Worth checking if the used the real deal, there are a lot of copies of these. To me it looks a little funky.

treblehunter · Sep 28, 2014

What is the date? Is it silver or gold? Pix look silver? Was this a eyeball find, looks pretty darn cool, nice find.

OWK · Sep 28, 2014

It appears to be a genuine Octagonal California Gold coin.

Many did not have denominations (although that could be ascertained from the size). The date would be helpful in narrowing down further.

Other than the giant hole from the hat pin, the condition is very nice.

david680 · Sep 28, 2014

Looks like its worth checking out. Lots of fakes out there, but I'd give that one a better chance of being real than about any other I've seen.

cjon455 · Sep 28, 2014

Huh, that's neat!

masterjedi · Sep 28, 2014

If it was gold the solder on the back would be gold (gold in color) too....

Very cool though... !

Greengoose · Sep 28, 2014

Thanks to you folks for the interest in out hobby. Crusader, yes about the funky look. Is so small and figured it was costume jewelry at first. Treblehunter, date maybe 1855 (period when these were use) and the pic looks white but is uncleaned gold color. Owk, david680 Knowing the history of the trunk, I am 100% it was used before the 1890's.

Added info.. Took a sideways look and it is 1865 with no value under the pin.

Argentium · Sep 28, 2014

According to the "Redbook" of U.S. coins over 570 different varieties of these privately minted pieces are known to exist -
the quality and consistency of them varies - so apparently a lot of genuine pieces may look "funky" compared with regular
U.S. mint issued gold pieces . If it is fake , the fact that it was found in the bottom of the old trunk ,added to the fact that
it is made into a hat pin, would suggest a century old fake at very least .

david680 · Sep 28, 2014

masterjedi said:
If it was gold the solder on the back would be gold (gold in color) too....

Very cool though... !

Having handled a few gold coins that were used in jewelry I can tell you that isn't necessarily true. I have had several genuine US $1 gold coins that had solder just like that to affix them to whatever they were mounted too.

Rick (Nova Scotia) · Sep 28, 2014

We can eliminate a lot of those varieties knowing it's daimeter, the 1/4 dol, the dollar, and all the round ones. We can eliminate the indian head types, and the washington head types

Generally the early ones 1852 to 1856 were used as money.

From Krause cat.
"By 1857-58 almost no private gold coins were being made. Production resumed, however, in 1859 as the pieces proved popular as souvenirs, and for use in jewelry. By then intrinsic value was generally ignored....were often low grade surfaced with pure gold."

"Walter Breen established that period one pieces 1852-1856 were "circulating issues" unlike those made 1859-1882 or later which were souvenirs or jewlelry pieces"

"For further information consult "W. Breen and R. J. Gillio California Poineer Fractional Gold""

The authors of that book, and at least one US dealer
CALIFORNIA FRACTIONAL GOLD | Old West Gold Coins
Insist they must have a denomination, the word DOLLAR, DOLL, DOL, or CENTS on the reverse to be genuine, and none listed in the Krause cat. are without a denomination.

What you have is a token, and is why the manufacturer left that part out.

Greengoose · Sep 28, 2014

Thank you Rick.. Some good info. Sorry I did not have the books.

Vegasphotoman · Sep 28, 2014

Greengoose said:
Found this hat pin the bottom of an old old trunk. Almost tossed it away but then dug out my microscope for a closer look. Seems to be a California fractional gold coin but value is under the pin.
Diameter is about .44 inch.

I'd be real happy to have found that! Neat find! thanks for the share!!

Rick (Nova Scotia) · Sep 28, 2014

Greengoose said:
Thank you Rick.. Some good info. Sorry I did not have the books.

No need for sorry, but I did think you would want to know.
I don't have all the books either, but a good stack.

mirage83 · Sep 28, 2014

david680 said:
Having handled a few gold coins that were used in jewelry I can tell you that isn't necessarily true. I have had several genuine US $1 gold coins that had solder just like that to affix them to whatever they were mounted too.

+1. I've got an 1800's gold quarter eagle which my great-great grandfather has made into a tie pin by soldering the pin onto the back. Definitely not gold solder on it.