Coin Identification for 1861 2 1/2 dollar coin

[vegasmkb]

Hello, I'm looking to get more identification on this coin. 

1861 2 1/2 Dollar Gold Quarter Eagle $2.50 Liberty Coin. Why is the bust missing on one side?  And what is the markings on it? Thanks in advance. Mark

[maeday76]

Not 100% sure, but it looks to be a "love token" coin, where the obverse was ground off in order to add the monogram of the person giving or receiving it. It's a valuable coin in good condition, but I imagine that changes with an alteration like this. If you had a provenance/backstory that could identify the previous owner as someone of significance, you could be sitting in tall cotton, otherwise I believe it's not very important to a numismatic collection. 

Please check back with your findings, and see if any of the images (and sites) below are helpful. 

 

 

 

 

[vegasmkb · Accepted solution]

Wow, thank you very much for all the info and images and sites. Very helpful. 

[maeday76]

Did you mean to mark your reply as the "solved" answer?

[vegasmkb]

Yes,, but how do I mark it as solved? I thought I did.

[vegasmkb]

I got an email stating this...

Great job! You marked your answer to a question as an accepted solution!

[maeday76]

When you scroll down the replies, do you see the green box around your "thank you" reply? That's the solved answer. If you want to change that one or ADD another,  separate solved response, go to the top of whatever reply you want to give a solved to and click the down arrow at the top right. The drop down menu will give you the option to report, grant solved, etc. I have seen multiple right answers to a single post be marked solved before, and that's also totally cool and often appropriate when crowd sourcing answers. Clues come from multiple directions when you're lucky.