Hello, I found this coin after the SF earthquake (1989?). I was walking around the Marina District and found it in a crack of the earth, buried in the dirt. Can anyone tell if it's real or not?
I don't know what constitutes as real but if you mean real gold, I highly doubt it. It looks like some kind of pot metal.
I would say that it is a reproduction or a Counterfeit! There should not be any dark...greyish looking areas on the coin as I am pretty sure that these were struck in at least 90% Gold. Frank
I've gotta run now, but let me do some digging. I just was reading about these recently some where else and I'll find it and let you know what I learn.
Yes, these were gold, and yours doesn't look like gold. Here's a site: http://www.coinfacts.com/pioneer_gold/mormon_gold_coins/mormon_gold_coins.htm
I don't think its real. The lines from the hat come to a sharp point in Redbook and the eyeball almost touches upper eye line.
Mormon coin Wow, thanks for all your help! I seem to remember reading an article today about these coins being made of lead with a small amount of gold. It seemed to me if there was only a small amount, it would be on the outside? That's why they destroyed a lot of them. And "real" is relative of course. Bad choice, how about authentic?!
How about the coin is an out and out fake - there is no room for doubt. It is not gold, but does appear to have been gold plated in order to pass it off a real, genuine, authentic - whatever word you wish to use - coin.
I also agreed that this is a reproduction and not made of gold. While the design is similar, letter spacing and relative positions of devices are way off. The lettering on the original is spaced such that there is about a letter width between each of the letters, whereas your example has very close lettering. There are many other differences as well. The early examples of these gold coins were minted without alloy. Because the soft metal wore so rapidly, a small percentage of silver was added to make the metal harder. The actual gold weight of these coins varied by a considerable amount, and using a $20 gold piece as an example, the intrinsic value of the gold varied from $16.90 to $17.53. The 1849 $10 Mormon gold piece is quite rare, with only 10 pieces known to exist as mentioned in my 1984 reference book on the topic.
Thanks for the info. Where are the 10 pieces.....are they with individual collectors or Utah museums?
My book did not say where the 10 pieces are, but some nice collections of Mormon gold do reside in museums.
Like to think an ole 49'er dropped it back in the day. Do a Brinell hardness test on the coin to see if its gold. This is non-destructive. Good luck. Traci :bigeyes:
