Help identifying these? Mexico and China?

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by C-B-D, Feb 25, 2020.

  1. C-B-D

    C-B-D Well-Known Member

    My wife found these in her grandparent's basement.
    This first one is absolutely tiny! And it has a rim clip.
    Any help with value would also be appreciated.
    IMG_2802-side.JPG IMG_2804-side.JPG
     
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  3. hotwheelsearl

    hotwheelsearl Well-Known Member

    First one is Empire of Mexico (Emperor Maximilian). It looks authentic, but the silver ones seem to usually be larger size.

    There's a gold-plated "fantasy piece" that is smaller than a US cent, but it appears to be worth very little.

    Second one is 10 Japanese Yen, which is worth about 1 US cent face value. Numismatic value is probably not too much

    EDIT - 10 cents. I can't read decimals
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2020
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  4. hotwheelsearl

    hotwheelsearl Well-Known Member

  5. Bradley Trotter

    Bradley Trotter Well-Known Member

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  6. hotwheelsearl

    hotwheelsearl Well-Known Member

    Looks like value according to numista is closer to $0.20.

    Edit - for the Japanese coin, I mean
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2020
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  7. C-B-D

    C-B-D Well-Known Member

    It has a gold hue to it. Like 50% gold coins often look.
     
  8. hotwheelsearl

    hotwheelsearl Well-Known Member

    According to this site, it may be 10 kt gold

    https://coinsite.com/coins-of-emperor-maximilian-of-mexico/

    It doesn't look plated to me, so I'm going to wager it's worth melt value of 10kt gold, whatever that may be.
     
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  9. ewomack

    ewomack 魚の下着

    Just to confirm, yes, the Japanese coin is Showa 29 or 1954 (昭和二十九年) but that means it is also the earlier type with the reeded edge. 10 Yen coins after 1958 have a smooth edge.

    There were 520,900,000 of those minted, so, as already said, they don't have much value. In fact, they still circulate, so they are worth 10 Yen or $0.091 US. You can't buy much with these coins, they are the equivalent of the US cent or nickel. But Japan also still circulate a 1 Yen coin, which is worth, not surprisingly, $0.0091 US. They at least make these out of aluminum, but I think they still cost more to make then their value.

    Proof or very high grade examples of that coin can go as far up as $200.00, but given that these coins lose their shiny luster pretty easily, those are pretty hard to come by. They are very cool coins, nonetheless.

    I also have one of those tiny Maximilian pieces, but it has a very distinct gold color (I don't have a photo handy, unfortunately). It was sold to me as a "fantasy piece" for not very much money. I don't think that's a regular issue, it looks like the "fantasy piece," whatever that means. How large is it? There was another thread on these here back in 2010.
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2020
  10. MK Ultra

    MK Ultra Well-Known Member

    coinoscope is an app that I've used that works okay. Might point you in the right direction.
     
  11. Dnas

    Dnas Active Member

    The Japanese 10 yen is equivalent to a US dime, currently with about 9 cents.

    One yen is equivalent to a US cent (about 0.9 cent)
     
  12. stldanceartist

    stldanceartist Minister of Silly Walks

    I actually ran into a pile of these Mexican fantasy tokens this last flea market. Someone asked me if I was interested in them, he wasn't sure if they were gold or not, so I told him I'd look around. After about two dealers I found another guy selling them 2 for $5 - said they were usually given out during weddings. Also said there was some kind of mint mark or privy mark near the eagle on the "genuine" (I suppose that means gold) ones.
     
  13. Col_Fury

    Col_Fury Member

    First one a fantasy piece for Empire of Mexico, Emperor Maximilian. I pick gold and silver ones up all the time for between $1-$2 as people believe they have no intrinsic value. However, most of the time the XRF analysis returns 90% purity for gold or silver. I made friends with a chemistry professor at the local college and he tests my stuff in his lab in exchange for a yearly bottle of scotch.
     
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  14. xlrcable

    xlrcable Active Member

    Another reference for the Mexican jeton is Neil Utberg, who lived in south Texas and published books about Mexican coins in the 1960s. He thought the gold ones were still being produced at that time, but that the silver ones had been stopped years earlier when fraudsters started gold-plating them. They’re tiny, diameter 10 mm. The example I have weighs .49 g and seems to be at least half gold - I’m not equipped to do a more accurate s.g. test on an object this small.

    I don’t know what to think of the OP’s example: to me it looks just like the original pieces, except that those I’ve seen had a small “B” below that dot under the date, also mentioned by Utberg. The OP’s coin looks like the silver version and I’m not sure I’ve seen one before - they’re far less common. Modern knockoffs, gold with much cruder devices, flood eBay from time to time and I assume those are plated.

    Hard to cite a value for a “coin” which is on almost nobody’s radar - but I live near the border and for some reason these things have always interested me.
     
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