A Golden Coin from the Golden Age

July 28, 2011 4:43 PM

I have a craaazy question about coin collecting in the 1950s. Help!

Doing some research for a fiction project, and I need some info about coin collecting back in the 1950s.

I have a character who has a particular, valuable gold coin. So...what is it? It needs to be:

-- Gold
-- Something that was worth around $500 at that time.
-- A size that a person might accidentally swallow, so nothing too huge.
-- And I need some factoids about that coin: it was minted at XYZ or it is made of (insert some metallurgical info here)

Please help me, numismaniacs!

posted by BlahLaLa to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

I think a five dollar gold coin would be in the right size range but I can't help you on 1950s value. Perhaps one of the 1949 5 dollar pieces minted in California may fit you needs.
posted by buggzzee23 at 5:30 PM on July 28, 2011

Or a 1 dollar gold coin
posted by buggzzee23 at 5:32 PM on July 28, 2011

Note that (in the US) ownership of a gold coin would have been illegal in the 1950s because of the Gold Reserve Act.
posted by Rash at 10:12 AM on July 29, 2011