US California Fractional Gold (Counterfeit) 1849 to 1880

This is a replica of a California fractional, small denomination gold piece with a face value of one half dollar. These coins were privately minted in round and octagonal shapes in response to the sharp lack of small coinage during the gold rush of mid-1800.

Genuine Cal Gold pieces today catalog anywhere from $150 US dollars to several $1000s of US dollars, depending on specific pattern and condition. The details of these pieces is too specialized and too complex for CoinQuest to do a good job evaluating one, but CalGoldOnline.com is the definitive meeting place for collectors and dealers. If you have just the slightest interest in these coins, we strongly urge you to visit this sites for detailed information.

With all of these pieces, the question is authenticity. If the word REPLICA appears on the coin, it most certainly is just that -- a replica of a genuine piece. Nice replica coins these days sell for a few tens of dollars. Low-quality replicas sell for a few dollars each. See this CoinQuest page [Press Here] for a discussion of real and fake Cal Gold.

Even without the word REPLICA, there are plenty of counterfeit Cal Gold pieces around. The coin in our main picture is a fake. The main problem is that many of the genuine coins look like fakes. If you think you have a real one, you should have it certified by a respected service such as PCGS, NGC, or ICG. Look them up on the Internet.
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