I purchased this from a Paris street vendor nearly 50 years ago for about 20 cents. I still don't know what it is exactly. Can anyone help me ID it?
Why so? I don't have any reason to doubt it as authentic, I just don't know what it is. The vendor had a box of miscellaneous coins, of which I bought three. The others, a 1797 cartwheel penny, a 1721 British farthing, are unquestionable genuine, and the others I looked at but did not buy seemed all more or less common genuine coins.
I found something that looks similar to 1 of your photos that might help ? link: https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=291&lot=1654 German States/CALENBERG-HANNOVER
When I see the large cross I always lean toward a Spanish Real, but this is certainly not one..... May I ask where you are seeing the date?
I thought Spanish as well when I first bought it, and believed that for a long time. But I cannot find anything like it listed among Spanish coins. The date is above the orb on what I take for the obverse. The orb probably originally had a cross on top, and the date is to either side: 16 on the left, 54 faintly on the right side. The 5 is a very old style 5, and the 4 is fainter on the picture than in hand. The cross on the reverse separates four emblems (left to right, top row to bottom): a wheel or shield of some sort, a lion rampant, another lion rampant, and a crowned spread-winged eagle looking left.
I see that now that you pointed it out. What a head scratcher..... For what it's worth, I been Googling all manner of coinage from the era. A lot of the imagery appears British. Only thing that negates that is that each British piece I looked at from that period included a kings portrait.
Thanks for the lead. Yes, the orb is similar. I believe the Z in the orb is actually a 2, which I take to have some bearing on the denomination. I have found similar orbs on several coins of the period, so what I thought would be a promising lead has not helped so much. There is not enough of the legend remaining to help, either.
Thanks for the effort! I think the key is the heraldry around the cross, but I don't know where or how to begin looking that up.
Off the top of my head, the wheel on the reverse suggests to me that it is German States in the Osnabruck or Mainz vicinity. Several city states used that symbol in their heraldry.
Thanks for the input. Not all that looks like wear looks like that in hand. Most of it looks more like damage or a poor strike to begin with. It has had a rough life, poor thing. And I suspect the silver is not of highest purity.
It might be Polish Lithuanian, the item in the center of the obverse looks kind of like this This design was quite common in northern Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland-Lithuania, and the Baltic.
That's what I have found. Thanks for the suggestion! I wish there were a good resource to check the heraldry on the other side.
This also looked similar.... link: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces77627.html Swedish Livonia (Occupation of Riga) (Livonia)
Thanks for the suggestion. I already knew of the similarity to Swedish Lavonia. This is my Lavonian solidus from 1636 that was a gift from my son. The kind folks on CT (old49er) helped me identify it in February 2018.
Thanks for the suggestion! Apparently it is Mainz, 2 kreuzer. Although they did not have this exact coin, I found the design, both sides, here: https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide...Kreuzer&date=&catalogInitials=&catalogNumber= Thanks everybody for all the help!!
Great answer! I am happy you found the match. This is an interesting read on the "Mainz wheel". The images of the different coat of arms are quite interesting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_Mainz Here is the Mainz piece that led me to the suggestion. The obverse features a couple of the 6 spoke wheels.
This one comes very close. Joint coinage of the Bishoprics of Mainz, Frankfurt, Hessen and Nassau. One Albus, 2 Kreuzer or Halbbatzen. Rheinland-Pfalz Mainz, Erzbistum Anselm Casimir von Umstadt, 1629-1647 2 Kreuzer (Halbbatzen, Albus) 1635, Mainz, Mzm. Hans Ayrer, Gemeinschaftsprägung mit Frankfurt, Hessen-Darmstadt und Nassau-Saarbrücken. 0.81 g. Reichsapfel mit Wertzahl Z, in der Umschrift die 4 Münzstände / In den Winkeln eines Zwillingsfadenkreuzes die Wappen von Mainz, Hessen-Darmstadt, Nassau und Frankfurt. Joseph/Fellner 414 b Isenbeck 136 Prinz Alexander.