Need help with some older coins

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by Hiddendragon, Jan 6, 2014.

  1. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    I have six coins from the 1700s or earlier that I'd like to identify. They're all in poor condition, and most seem to be French. Here are the first three.

    First one is dated 1659. The words look like: Et mulcere dedit fluctus on one side and Alexandre de Seve de la 3 prevoste de M (followed by two smaller letters)

    Second one seems to say French colonies and XV. The other side says sit nomen domini then something I can't read. there's an RF counterstamp, presumably Republique Francais?

    Third one looks older. I'm not good with these older scripts.
    1659.jpg colonies.jpg cross.jpg
     
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  3. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

  4. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    These are the other three. The first says Ferdinand so I was thinking either Spain or an Italian state. The second has letters but I can't make them out well. One side has a design that looks like the Papal keys. Third one seems to be silver or tin maybe. It's very thin and dented. Dated 1696. Says Quis Contra and in smaller letters Oi Denaere(?) des guer_es (?). the other side says Louis Great King (in Latin) and I think there's a C mintmark.

    ferdinand.jpg keys.jpg louis great.jpg
     
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  5. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

  6. THCoins

    THCoins Well-Known Member

    For your Ferdinand, you might better look at Ferdinand of Bavaria because of the coat of arms. (Although Bavarian, he also struck a lot of coins in the low countries, current Belgium)
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2014
  7. vlaha

    vlaha Respect. The. Hat.

    The second one in the first set was made for the French colonies in the new world, it is counter stamped with RF so it was used in the French Caribbean (If it wasn't it would have been used in Canada).

    In this state it is probably worth $100-$175 but I'm not good at pricing these.

    I got mine for a bit over 300.

    RF sou.jpg

    RF sou rev.jpg
     
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  8. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    Thanks. I had no idea it might approach that value.
     
  9. spirityoda

    spirityoda Coin Junky

    interesting finds. I know nothing about these. I like that they are early dates. someday I want to put together a different century set.
     
  10. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    I think you are right. Unfortunately the date and much of the detail are gone.
     
  11. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    I am looking over a collection inherited by my sister in law that runs the gamut from Romans to the 1980s. There are a small group of these old copper coins, almost all in poor shape but they are interesting.
     
  12. vlaha

    vlaha Respect. The. Hat.

    I'm quoting retail here, not wholesale.
     
  13. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    Yeah, but I probably would have taken 2 dollars for it.
     
  14. THCoins

    THCoins Well-Known Member

    Dont give up on old Ferdinand that quick ! You can come a lot further in attribution with this coin.
    As i hinted, this looks like a low countries copper. As i said the arms are that of Bavaria, but not fully, as there is also a centre shield. This will be the coat of arms of the local domain for which the coin was issued. (This is not always the minting place) In addition the text on the reverse seems to start with Com.. That's nice because Ferdinand had many different titles for different domains like Duke, Count and Prince. The Com.. implies that he was count of this domain (Comes)

    So we have his title as Count, and a centre shield with horizontal bars.
    Now it would come in handy if you would speak Dutch. Assuming you don't, i'll give you that one. Then within a minute you arrive at this site:
    http://www.duiten.nl/luikvanaf1612.html
    There you take your pick from the ones with Ferdinand as "Comes Lossensis, Graaf van Loon".
     
  15. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    Thanks again. I'll look into it further.

    Anyone have any ideas about the other three that no one has weighed in on yet?
     
  16. THCoins

    THCoins Well-Known Member

    I can tell you what i think about the second coin in your second set. Though i can not conclusively attribute it for you.
    The four keys arranged in a cross with fleurs de lys in between was the medieval logo of the French treasury department ("Tresor Royal") They issued their own counters (jetons in French). However, the edge text seems gibberish. Also the combination with the other side is a bit weird because this arrangement of 6 Fleur de Lis in 3-2-1 order is not French, but the coat of arms of the Italian house of Farnese.

    This makes me think this is a counter which is not French, nor Italian, but German. Because the Germans at the time massively produced counters (mainly around Nuremberg). These were exported also to France and Great-Brittain. These were often made to resemble French and English types, but are a bit off. So i think this is a contemporary German imitation of a French medieval jeton.

    Just an hypothesis, (Challenge anyone to come up with a better ;) )
     
  17. Hiddendragon

    Hiddendragon World coin collector

    Thanks for the ideas. No one else seems to be weighing in on them, so they might remain a mystery for awhile yet.
     
  18. vlaha

    vlaha Respect. The. Hat.

    The very last one appears to be French.

    From the style I'd say it's a commemorative, but that's just MHO.

    On the reverse, is the date 1696 or 1656? You might might want to see if there were any major battles in the year it was minted.
     
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