Is this California Small Denomination Gold coin Real or Fake??

Hi, thanks for taking time to look at my post! I have a question about a California Gold coin. I want to know if it is real or fake because a local dealer looked at it and said it was fake because he was ripped off when he bought a California Gold coin that was similar to this one. The red books says that Colifornia Gold coins that have bears on the design are normally fake and this coin looks like it could have a crude bear at the bottom of the reverse. The Red Book also says that some designs are unique and that there are over 570 different varieties. If it is fake is it still made of real gold or is it just gold plated? Pictures are below and thanks for your help!

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I'm by no means an expert, but I would say fake. As far as it containing real gold or not you could probably have a dealer do an acid test on it to see if it does have gold in it.

 

About 99% of the california gold tokens are fake with jusk layered gold (Not enough to have any value) and are sold as novelty or intentionally made to decieve people. That right there is most likely a fake becuase it is crude. If you have a gold testing kit, try it on that to bee 100% sure.

 

Thanks for the help! I just wanted to get others peoples opion just to be sure.

Thanks Again,

Jimmbob82

 

It IS a token. Some tokens were made with gold though

 

Many were actually. KoinJester is very right. The older ones were pure gold. They are very small so the gold value in them used to not be worth too much. Best solution is always to do a specific gravity test on it. Gold testing does no good if a coin is layered or plated, but a specific gravity test will tell you if its pure.

FWIW I believe its a token as well, but could be gold.

 

I am no expert,but I have several of these,from the research I've done I can tell you that the real ones rarely have an animal on them and should always have the word dollar on them. Of course,there could always be exceptions.

 

The one thing that does look "weird" is the animal on the bottom of the reverse of the coin. The picture does not look like any bear i've ever seen becuse of the tail and how thin the body is. If the picture is supposed to be a bear it is the crudest drawing of a bear that I have ever seen.

Jimmbob82

 

Your California Fractional Gold piece is not genuine.

Heritage says:

 

It's a wolf, look at the ears.

 

Well according to Hobo the picture is the crudest drawing of a bear with the longest ears and the thinest body that I have ever seen Personally, I wish that there was no drawing of an animal on it at all .

Jimmbob82

 

You're putting words in my mouth. All I said was the animal on the coin is a bear. Anyone that knows anything about California Fractional Gold replicas will probably tell you that it is a bear.

It makes perfect sense (at least it does to me) to place a bear on piece that is purportedly from California during the Gold Rush days. The Grizzly Bear is the state animal of California and a Grizzly Bear is the dominant feature of the California flag. (Or maybe that looks like a wolf to you.)

 

Some more info online about California gold coins/tokens:

calgoldonline.com

 

The problem is not that the piece is crude; it's that the piece is not crude enough. This piece is better produced in almost every way than a real one would be. The style of the Indian looks to be about the right quality for authentic pieces; everything else about the piece is much better produced.

The bear is a dead giveaway that the piece is a fake.

Some of these pieces do contain gold, but what gold is there is usually low quality.