This is a counterpart to my earlier "box of mystery" thread. In this case, it's a bin of coppers bought loose, but at least the date or country looked readily identifiable. There's enough variety in these that I hope it may be of some interest posting a few as I write them up. Most are early 1800s but a few are older. The contents: First up: Antigua farthing token "1836", Hannay and Coltart Apparently, these were actually issued around 1850.
I have pretty much no idea what I paid for any of these. Some were picked from "junk" bins. A few were from coin shows' ~$1 bins. Some from about 10 pounds of various world coins bought in bulk. And a few bought individually for ~$5-10. Bought over the last 25 years or so. These are the older and more interesting of the various coppers I've bought loose, so they are not a representative sample. Anyway, I can't have done too badly, as anything I bought loose was usually pretty cheap. Next up, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, 3 Schwaren, 1860, Nicolaus Friedrich Peter
#4: France, 1780, 1 Sol, Louis XVI It's a bit hard to read, but the text is: Ob: LUDOV·XVI· - D·GRATIA Rev: FRANCIÆ ET NAVARRÆ·REX 1780 I can't read the mint mark at 6:00 on the reverse. Should be 12.2 g, but mine is 10.0. Some copper may have been shaved off. You can see the text is a little too close to the rim of the coin compared to an as-minted version.
Rough guess, but I think you have the the following listed in Numista, Sol de Bearn attributed as Gadoury 350a. Check the reverse legend. Is it REX or RE? Compare to the pics of the regular 1 sol. The mm is shot, but it didn't look like a letter. Gad350a has only one mm, une vache (cow). Maybe yours? Check the pics and see what you think. I do have a copy of Gadoury and Krause 18th century but don't have access to them to do additional checking. Hope this helps https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces40926.html
#5: Russia, 1 Kopeck, 1859, Empress Elizaveta This one threw me off for a while, as I misread the date as 1769. The weight is also a bit high, at 11.2 g compared to 10.2 as the standard. I wonder if it could be a contemporary counterfeit. Usually those are underweight, though. I don't know how uniform Russian copper coins were in this era.
I think you are right! I was not even aware of this series to compare. I guess this is Pau mint, and the scepter like shape under the neck on the obverse is the privy mark of Michel Soulon (1777-1789). I can't make out the cow mark at 6:00 on the reverse. The "RE" is followed by some sort of a mark, but it's not an "X" It looks more like a flattened "D". I guess it's supposed to be a mask? Mine has a vaguely rectangular mark between the date and the "FRANCIÆ" which matches the Sol de Béarn you linked. Thanks for catching this one.
#6: Some George III pennies Top Row--"Cartwheel" pennies, 1797, 28.3 g (these are worn down ~1g each) Bottom L: 4th series pennies, 1806 and unreadable date, 18.9 g, worn to ~17g Bottom R: Ireland, 1805, 16.7 g (My weight measurement, don't know official) Have I mentioned I like big coppers?
#7: Sweden, 2 Öre Silvermynt, 1762, Adolf Fredrik This is a pretty hefty coin, ~28 g. Sweden tried to make monetary use of its massive copper supplies, with mixed success. It's holed, as if someone mounted it on a necklace, which is a bit odd for a non-precious metal coin. The hole partly obscures the date, but I'm pretty sure the last digit is a 2.
#8: Not sure how I wound up with two of these. Bishopric of Salzburg, 1 Kreutzer, 1797 and 1802 Salzburg lost its independence in 1805 when it was annexed by Austria. They are actually in pretty decent shape compared to most of my loose coins.
#9: It's a coin from one of my favorite German States! Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, 1 Pfenning, 1776, Karl I (holed) For comparison, here's a 1743 "Wildman" pfenning from the same state and ruler. As far as I know, both types of pfennings were issued over the same time period.
#10: East India Company, 1 Cent, 1845, Victoria, Straits Settlements I got a bit of déjà vu looking at this coin (top). I remember posting a similar coin in an earlier thread on coins of the Straits Settlements. Coin from the earlier thread is in the bottom row. They even both have a gouge near the center of the obverse where Victoria's ear should be. But the wear is different, so they are clearly different coins. I guess I have two now. This happens quite a lot...
#11: Another counterstamped oddity. I think this may be a 6 pfennig token from Limbach & Breitenbach, 1788 There's an "O" stamped on the bottom of the obverse, deeply enough to leave a large dent on the reverse. I couldn't find it in Krause, but did find it in a few other places. (MA-shops, Numista, Mrbcoins). The last one calls it a "Granary Token". Anyone ever seen anything like it?
A nice older copper halfpenny. Well worn, but the date is clearly readable. England, William III, Halfpenny 1699 (Not UK--the Act of Union wasn't until 1707) I think this is the 3rd series, even though the 2nd was also made in 1698-99. I believe the date is in the 2:00 position on the reverse in the 2nd series.
#13: Burgau, Austria, 1 Kreutzer 1772, Maria Theresa I don't know much about the Margraviate of Burgau, but apparently they issued their own coins which were different from the rest of Austria. The ones from the main part of Austria would have her portrait on the obverse instead of the crowned arms. I believe Austria lost Burgau during the Napoleonic Wars, and it is now located in Bavaria.
#15: Are you getting bored of Austrian 1 Kreutzers yet? I think I have a couple more left. They seem to be well-represented in this batch. Austria, 1 Kreutzer, 1763 P (Prague), Maria Theresa
#16: Austria, 1 Kreutzer, 1816 A (Vienna), Franz II (holed) Another Kreutzer, from just after the Napoleonic Wars. Austria had upgraded itself from a kingdom to an Empire with the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. Thus Franz II was the second Holy Roman Emperor of that name, but also the first Emperor Franz of Austria.