Expert: Ronald Fern - 9/11/2010

Question
QUESTION: I have a gold coin extremely small and thin on one side it has an indian head he has 3 feathers,on the reverse side it has a quater stamped on numerically 1/4 and 1849 as the date I would very much like to have a value,My parents bought them in England approx 50 years ago.

ANSWER: Hi Loretta:

Thanks for your question.

It's always a good idea to provide as much information and a photo, if possible, when asking questions. It's hard to pinpoint what you have with the information you provided. I'll try and answer as best I can, but if you want to ask a follow up question by providing more information, I'll revise or add to my answer.

What you most likely have is a token rather than a coin. The actual coins are quite scarce and were first struck in the early 1850's. There are hundreds of varieties and it is a very specialized field. They were heavily counterfeited. This question has been asked before. Your piece could be worth as little as a few dollars as a replica, or up to several hundred dollars, if real.

I've provided a link on Calif. gold tokens for your review. There is a lot of good information and illustrations. The link: http://www.calgoldcoin.com/tokens.htm

If you live close to a local shop, they should offer an opinion as to the value at no charge. Always try and get at least two opinions and try and deal with PNG dealers if possible. If you should decide to sell your coin to a dealer, remember they will offer about 50% to 60% of the retail value. Here's a link to find one in your area: http://www.pngdealers.com/dealersearch.php

Please remember to go to the experts site to rate this answer. Check the nomination box on the rating page below any comments you may have.

Thank You and Good Luck in your collecting.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for the reply I checked out the recomended pages of tokens and my coins are extremly similar to Liberty style copy BG224 only mine has the date 1849 on the head side I have two with a quater stamp on and one with a figure 1 they are so very small difficult to photograph

Answer
Loretta:

Thanks for the follow-up question. Sorry, I'm unable to provide more information without seeing your item and/or photos. Your piece should be looked at by a professional to determine if it is real and it's worth.

Please remember to go to the experts site to rate this answer. Check the nomination box on the rating page below any comments you may have.

Thank You Again, and continued Good Luck in your collecting.