Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 8/28/2007

Question
I have a very small coin which is about 1/2 inch in diameter.

On the front, it has a picture of a girl facing to the left with her hair pulled up in the back.  She has 13 stars circling her head.

On the back, it has a small picture of a what looks to be a bear.  Above the bear it reads  California Gold 1/2.

It is dated 1849.


Thank you for your response.

Answer
Hello, T, California gold pieces (tokens) were made privately with the gold from the California gold rush.  Some of them (like yours) were pretty small and also thin.  If you do a search on www.ebay.com for "California gold" over 400 listings now come up, though not all of them are relevant.  Try narrowing the search to "California fractional gold" and 22 entries, all relevant, (plus 46 more in the eBay stores section) come up.  I suspect that these tokens may have been widely counterfeited, thus authentication by an expert should be essential.  Jim Lawniczak