USA, CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH, GOLD 1852 -HALF DOLLAR a - Flickr - woody1778a

California gold coinage is a broad category of privately-issued coin-like items that were used in place of official currency in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

territory (later state) of California during the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Ze ...

of 1849. Since the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing ...

reserves the right to issue legal tender coins, California

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile m ...

coinage is a misnomer and actually references coin-like

ingot An ingot is a piece of relatively pure material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing. In steelmaking, it is the first step among semi-finished casting products. Ingots usually require a second procedure of sha ...

s with a stated tender value, tokens with a stated tender value (denominated), and tokens without a stated tender value (non-denominated). These items are only classified as an ingot if the value of the metal was close to the tender value marked on the piece. In spite of the misnomer, it is common practice among

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

s to label coin-like ingots and denominated tokens as 'coins' while labeling the non-denominated tokens as 'tokens'. Also, the small California Gold coins and tokens have been made in many locations other than California, often with a claim of being from California on the piece and these items are generally labeled as California Gold Coins or Tokens. Coin-like ingots were produced from 1849 until 1856 in denominations of $1, $5, $10, $20, $25, and $50. Many of these were made by well-known assayers. Some of these achieved circulation on the

east coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

. All are highly valued today. Tokens with a stated tender value were produced from 1852 until 1883 as well as spuriously in later years. These were made in denominations of $1, $0.50, and $0.25 in both round and octagonal shapes. In the early period, from roughly 1852 through 1853, the coins were made for actual use due to a scarcity of silver coins. These coins were quickly rejected as being too small to handle, but simultaneously gained popularity for use as

souvenir A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a ...

s that could be economically mailed to families. Although the earliest issues had about 80-90% of the correct weight for the denomination, the weights constantly decreased over the years of issue. Only the extremely rare "defiant eagle" issue has the full weight of gold. Tokens without a stated tender value have been produced since 1869. The

Coinage Act of 1864 The Coinage Act of 1864 was a United States federal law passed on April 22, 1864, which changed the composition of the one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the two-cent coin. The Director of the U.S. Mint developed the designs for these ...

made the private creation of items intended to be passed as legal tender to be illegal. This law was first enforced in an obscure case in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

in 1869 and later enforced in a more public fashion at Ft. Leavenworth in 1871. At that time several manufacturers stopped production of the denominated pieces and new manufacturers stepped with a mix of denominated and non-denominated issues. After an overzealous visit from the United States Secret Service in 1883 (no charges were ever pressed), all of the remaining manufacturers switched to non-denominated issues. Since then issues have been produced, often with gold-rush era dates on them, more or less continuously through the present.

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California Gold Coins
{{DEFAULTSORT:California Gold Coinage California Gold Rush Historical currencies of the United States United States gold coins Private currencies Local currencies

See also

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External links