My father recently passed and left me a pickle jar full of old coins. I would like to get knowledgeable about these, but do not know where to start. Some of the older ones are: 1763 Saxony-Thaler 1/12, a 1848 1/2 dime, and many German 1800-1900 Marks, Pfennings, etc. I also have one that looks bronze and has a horse on one side and "20" on the other, no other markings. Anyone know of this coin? I have looked on E-Bay, but it seems every coin on there is only worth .99 cents.
Best bet is to post pics here so the members can try to help, please do both sides of the coin as clear as possible I find scanning them on a flatbed scanner works quite well. And of course welcome to CoinTalk :thumb: De Orc :bow: Ps DO Not clean them in any way
The one with the horse sounds like it might be from Wulfenbuttel? Would definitely need to see pictures. ~Roman
Thanks...I guess I'll go get a scanner. This task seems overwhelming. There are over 150 of these coins from just about every country. He also had several different Lady Diana and Queen coin sets that are sealed in some type of booklet. They also seem to be worth less than face value. I think he had a large collection of worthless coins, but it will be fun tracking each one down. I have tried various web sites, but most only show selected coins. Is there a site that has every coin listed?
to CoinTalk. If your local public library doesn't have the Standard Catalog of World Coins 18th and 19th Century editions, it can undoubtedly get them for you on inter-library loan. Those volumes (the size of large city phone books) are vast storehouses of information about your coins, complete with sections on how to determine what country they are from. Your bottle of coins calls for a few afternoons in the library's research section.
Thanks again...will try the library. One last question...One coin looks silver, is ridged, has the left profile of a bearded man on the front with the words "Napoleon III" and "Empereur" around the profile. The back is very worn and I can only make out some type of crest or seal. I was unable to locate it on the internet. Anyone have any guesses?
Think I answered my own question. Looks very much like the 1868 5 Francs coin shown in Ian's collection. This site is going to be a lot of fun!
Roman,Brunswick-Luneburg & the Kingdom of Hanover also issued coins with a horse on the obverse as well. Aidan.
Sorry that I do not yet have the capability of posting a picture. The coin is close to the American dime in size, is brown, has a smooth edge, shows a horse standing with the head pointing to the left and it's back legs spread farther apart than the front, and it's tail half raised and pointing down. The horse is inside of a circle, which looks to be inside of a wreath. the back has the same circle and wreath, and the number 20 and a period, with a small "c" at the top right. There also appears to be ridges on the front and back of the coin near the edge.
Welcome aboard,cleskybear.It sounds like you have got a 1/20 Thaler from either Brunswick-Luneburg,Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel,or Hanover,but it depends on what date the coin is. Aidan.
