Thread: Star of David, date 1288.

I was given this coin by my grandad years ago as part of a larger collection it has always intrigued me.
I will post a picture when I work out how to transfer them from my digital camera to my computer, but in the mean time, it is bronze in colour, apears very old, on one side is what looks like the star of David and on the other is some writing which appears to be arabic in the top half, and then separated from this by a line in the lower half is a date 1288.
Also it has markings all around the from inside to out like IIIIII.
Any help in it's identification would be appreciated, cheers.

This coin is from Morocco,not Israel,even though it has the Star of David.The date '1288' is AH1288,not AD1288! AH1288 is a date in the Islamic lunar calendar,which is around 621 years behind the
Christian calendar dates.It must be remembered that the Islamic lunar year is 11 days shorter,so you must add 3% to make up for it when converting.

Aidan.

The "Star of David" is the principal element of >>the "Seal of Sulayman"<< in the Islamic tradition, and frequently used on Morrocon coinage.

According to the chart in Krause, AH1288 extended from March 23, 1871 to March 11, 1872, on the western calendar.

If i'm not wrong the "Star of David" has 6 points. The coins I have from Morocco have a star of 5 points.

Originally Posted by goossen

If i'm not wrong the "Star of David" has 6 points. The coins I have from Morocco have a star of 5 points.

You're right on both points.

• You obviously don't have any Moroccan coins older than the AH1330-1346 (1912-1927) reign of Yusuf, whose bronze 1 Muzuna (Y#26) was the first use of a five-pointed star on Moroccan coinage.

The coins of Abd al-Aziz, who reigned from AH1311-1326 (1894-1908) were the last ones to display the Seal of Sulayman.

I am grateful for the replies you have sent me, however being new to the world of coin collecting I am still a bit confused.
My coin has six points to its star, it is made of two triangles opposed to eachother with a small circle in the middle.
I would be grateful for any further light that can be shed upon its origin.

Originally Posted by mattshed

My coin has six points to its star, it is made of two triangles opposed to eachother with a small circle in the middle.
I would be grateful for any further light that can be shed upon its origin.

Based on your description, you have a 19th Century coin, for which Aidan Work's attribution is completely correct. Specifically, it was minted of bronze during the reign of Sidi Mohammed IV, AH1276-1290 (1859-73).

• If it is about 22mm, 7g, and has the date below some arabic writing on the reverse, with a design around the Seal of Suyalman, it is 2 Falus, cataloged in the same range
• if it is 27-29mm, 11.5g with a design similar to the 2 Falus, it is a 4 Falus (c#166), listed at $2-30 ; and
• if it seems to be a 4 falus, but only weighs about 6g, it is a contemporary forgery, of no value except to collectors of counterfeit coins.

Don't be led off the subject of your coin by our discussion of historical Moroccon designs.

I have more than 70 coins in front of me right now, a lot are foreign currency collected on my great grandfathers travels and are somewhat identifiable however a few of them I have to one side which don't have an obvious story to tell.
I am encouraged by the efforts of you all for discussing my original enquiry and have more.
I thank you, and will try to offer a picture of my other coins and ask for your help further.

Cheers mattshed.

Just before I go how about a coin of a yellowish metal colour can't really beleive it's gold but anyway, it has a head/bust on one side and writing "GEORGIVS III DEI GRATIA around the outside.
On the other side is a coat of arms in the middle with a crown on top and writing "IN MEMORY OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS" around the outside. On this side below the coat of arms is also a date 1797.

Originally Posted by mattshed

"IN MEMORY OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS"

screams out "I'm a token or medallion, honoring Mad King George, not a coin."

Originally Posted by satootoko

You obviously don't have any Moroccan coins older than the AH1330-1346 (1912-1927) reign of Yusuf (...)

You are right, my oldest coin is from AH1370

Originally Posted by satootoko

screams out "I'm a token or medallion, honoring Mad King George, not a coin."

Roy,these are actually very common card counters.I see them very often.

Aidan.

Does that mean that this coin was used as a token bet for card games at the time?, I bet it has a few stories to tell!

Mattshed,yes it does mean that.How's things over in your part of the world?

Aidan.

I know I have that "IN MEMORY OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS" counter listed in one of my references somewhere, but it still eludes me after a considerable search. I had stumbled on the listing a year or so ago, and thought that I should note where that was (but didn't) since I have a few of them myself that need properly identified. I remember it was not in a category that I would have looked in, and that evidently is holding true. I believe they are some form of an imitation spade guinea, of which my English counter books mentioned that they did not list them, but did mention that they were likely used with the game of Whist.

I checked through 4 counter refs (2 were for English counters) and I did not see it listed, even after flipping thru every page and scanning a lot of descriptions (no indexes). On the upside, I did find listings for those counters that resembled U.S. gold pieces, but had "GERMANY" by the Indian head (in the December, 1972 TAMS Journal). Someone had asked about them earlier this year. Now, where was that thread?