Recently I purchased a ton of foreign coins at auction - just misc. stuff. Anyway... I found a Dam from Nepal, the 4 character variety. I can't imagine using these for regular commerce, but makes a heck of an addition to the collection.
How small is that then? it can't be smaller than the English Maundy penny... 11mm Ah i wonder if a 16th century hammered silver farthing could compete... about 9mm
it's sooo small that... ok, I got nothin. 9mm seems a little big, for this one. I'd say it can't possibly weigh more than 1/2 a silver 2 pence - I got one of those, too! I'd have to guess right now, because I don't have a measuring instrument... 6 maybe 7 mm? I could be off a little bit.
Sounds about right - but there is another even smaller I do believe. It's from India if I remember correctly - the name of it escapes me right now - but I think the size is 5mm
Is this that "fanam" thing I always se advertised? Nor sure how you authenticate one since they are so osmall and simple.
A quick search in google brings up quite a few smaller than 5mm. According to two sites on the net (which both quote The Standard Catalog of World Coins) the smallest is a jawa from Nepal. Weighing 0.01 grams. Its size isn't given but one site ( http://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@goanet.org/msg13098.html ) goes on to say that some were "further divided into 1/4 jawa, weighing as little as .002 (two thousandths) of a gram and roughly 2 mm square." Does that mean that a full jawa was cut up to create 1/4 jawa coins? If so, a 1/4 jawa probably doesn't count as a coin so a 1 jawa coin is probably the smallest actual coin.
well i have got 3 coins that are really small i will star with the smallest 1) a 1979 netherland 10 cent size 1.5 centimeters (not in use) 2) a 2002 euro ireland 1 euro size 1.6 centimeters (in use) 3) a 1974 half new penny (not many will know this coin) size 1.7 (not in use guess why ) oh yeah what is the biggest coin that you have seen i got a ireland 2000 1 pune or one pound size 3.1 centimetes and what is the hievist coin that you have seen i've got a old english 1980 size 3 cm and weight 13grams or 4 onces oh what a sec and its mathing brother a 1983 ireland 50p same size and wieght (i personly think they coped )
Heaviest i've seen would be the 1797 Cartwheel twopence with a weight of 2 ounces, massive things... they didn't last long.
I've seen some rather large thalers. Big enough to put an eye out, if used for evil. and might I add, happy birthday to Sylvester.
Tin snips would do the job nicely I mainly suggested that they may be cut because I recently read something about old English coins (around 1200 - 1500) that were sometimes chopped into halves or quarters to create smaller denominations.
That's right, up until about 1280ish silver pennies were the only denomination produced and many people needed change for these pieces so they would be snipped in half or quarters depending on what was required... during Edward I's reign though the round halfpennies and farthings were reintroduced, i think the last regular issues (what few we have surviving) had been struck in the 900s. I do believe some extremely rare examples exist for the mid 13th century... like one example. but it wasn't till the 14th century that the practice of chopping coins in half and quarters began to deminish as the denominations were reintroduced.
And the same practice took place right here in the US well into the 1800's. Only it was Spanish 8 reales being cut into pieces. Which of course explains where the term pieces of 8 comes from
there is a 1kg silver australian kookaburra a giant of a coin not sure if its legal tener though so maybe it dont count.
