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Star Mine Gold Coin (108012)

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1,000.00 USD Estimated At:2,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
Star Mine Gold Coin   (108012)
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"Star Mine/ 18 (pic star) 80/ 5 DOL// (in square diamond) Troy/ 175 G/24C." Actual weight: 11.6 grams (0.37 troy ozs). 0.9" diameter.

This gold coin has not been seen by us before. It has a clear reference to the Star Mine of 1880, in the same manner as the gold "Star" ingots which have been subject of some of my papers over the years, and well discussed by myself in detail.

In short, the Star ingots are not made in the standard manner of the period. Further, their appearance first came from a Glendenning sale (London), which I strongly believe was a method used by a well known coin/ingot collector/dealer to get questionable ingots out into the numismatic community - sell them into the foreign numismatic community, and let them filter back into the US as if they were real. At the time, it was illegal to possess them in the US unless they could be shown to be a true gold item of numismatic value. The information published in the Glendenning catalog was completely fictitious. The manner of the wording also rendered the opinion that the writer was known to all. The published map of the surveyed claims of the district that the writer had claimed the Star mine existed showed no such mine, nor did records within the mining industry. I rendered the opinion that the ingots are and were unquestionably fake, along with their counterparts that showed up at the same time in the same place, the Hoard ingots.

The appearance of this gold coin cements my opinion. This is a nice, neatly made piece for which the weights do not match, nor does the value. Other discussion is fruitless. My guess is that whoever made this coin may have only made one, since we haven't seen another. It is a fantasy made of gold, just like the Star gold ingots.

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