Catalogue information
During the gold rush period in California, there was a serious shortage of pass money. From 1852, quarter, half and whole dollars were privately minted with mined gold to make up for this deficit. Due to their very low weight and size, they were little accepted as a means of payment, but later on in abundance as souvenirs. In the beginning, most coins still contained up to 85% gold, but quality and content quickly declined and later issues were usually at most gold plated. With the Mint Law of April 22, 1864, such coins became illegal, but the law was not fully enacted until 1883. Following the law, many cash tokens were struck without denomination. After 1883 the production consisted almost entirely of tokens (and therefore no coins). To get around the law (and to increase acceptance) many tokens were backdated after 1881 to the early 1950s and 1960s. Early issues of California fractional gold usually have the portrait of Liberty on obverse, later issues have an Indian head and are usually Prooflike. Presumably there are still about 35,000 pieces in total with about 570 different numismatic designs, many of which are very rare. Many designs bear the initials of their creators: D, DERI, DERIB, DN, GD, G, GG, GL, H, L, N or NR. The denomination was usually listed as CENTS, DOL., DOLL> or DOLLAR. Beware of modern replicas. These are very common and have little to no numismatic value. A bear is often depicted in the design. Given the above, this is probably a modern replica.
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