is this a German States, German coin ? do you have a Krause KM# for it. I want to look it up for you. off to work now. I will research it when I get home at 1:45am tonight.
Hmm, the city of Aachen had a 12 Heller denomination. But that was later (18th century), and the pieces had a different design. A gold heller - even 12h - sounds very unusual to me ... Christian
funny but it's driving me crazy not knowing where that coin is from. in a good way. lol if that coin could talk... did you buy this coin ? or was it given to you as a gift ?
It was found in England with a metal detector. I just can't find anything that matches. And yes it's driving me crazy too (lol).
No unfortunately not British. I know English coins extremely well and we've never had coins like that here. We do find a lot from the continent though. Spanish, Holland, German, Italy etc
maybe show this coin in a large coin show where you live or can get to. someone must know what this is somewhere ? ask world coin dealers.
I will e-mail your pictures to 2 guys that are father and son dealers that go to Las Vegas coin shows that have been collecting for many years. they might know what this coin is and where it's from.
The double eagle resembles the "Austria-Lorraine" eagle; see the central CoA in the attached image. This one has the name of emperor Leopold because it was issued later; if yours is from 1639 indeed, the emperor would be Ferdinand III. But of course the HRE emperor is not necessarily mentioned on German States coinage. Still wondering about that "12 Heller" denomination ... Christian
That's an amazing coincidence, a mate of mine just found one yesterday with a metal detector in Devon! Certainly looks to be a coin of a Germanic State, the double headed eagle is the banner of the Holy Roman Empire. Heller is a denomination used in Germanic States. But beyond that - no idea. Did you get any further in ID?
The best I can do is this: It's got the Banner of the Holy Roman Empire on it, and XII Heller along with the date 1639. Now, this is in the middle of the 30 Years War fought across central Europe. What's odd is that Heller is a tiny denomination of currency - like a farthing. So even XII Heller would be no more than a penny - yet the coin is gold!? I wonder if they were struck by the Emperor as some kind of payment for Mercenaries? Certainly British mercenaries fought on both sides. It clearly is not a coin in circulation in Europe as currency - perhaps that's an explanation for it's low face value? But obviously the gold would have value in any country.
