I recently saw this and thought it looked interesting. It was just described as a medieval coin that needed cleaning. It has been happily soaking way from a month or so and thought I'd take a picture to see if anyone recognises what it may be. Any thoughts? It may not be in this orientation just that the crowns look likely that way. Still has some crud to come off and will never be a stunner!
Spanish. I am pretty sure it is a maravedis denomination of the very famous Ferdinand & Isabella, who bankrolled Columbus so he could sail the ocean blue in 1492. You've got the crowned F of Ferdinand on one side and a crowned Y for Isabella (Ysabel) on the other. If it still looks like the picture, don't soak or clean it anymore. That "crud" is the natural sandy patina seen on these and it's perfect the way it is- trust me. (PS- I'd go so far as to say it is actually nice. You say it's not "a stunner"? Maybe not quite, but it's quite appealing for a copper coin of this type and era. Leave that contrasting sandy patina intact!) Don't entirely trust me on the Ferdinand & Isabella attribution. This is not a specialty of mine. I am, however, 85-90% confident of that. By all means, get a second opinion, and someone more knowledgeable to value it for you.
That is really helpful and now I know, the F is fairly clear but not sure I would have connected the V or Y or then even made a connection as you describe. Thank you. Despite your excellent clues I have not yet been able to find pictures of any other copper version but did see a vaguely similar gold one. I understand this is not gold but had thought it looked like old silver but defer to your knowledge. Btw, weighs around 0.71g. If anyone has any further info, that'd be great.
Nice pickup. I don't know what it's worth- perhaps not much- but if you bought it as a cheap, unidentified, uncleaned "pick bin" sort of purchase, it's almost certainly worth more than you paid. Sorry I couldn't get you all the way there with the full attribution and valuation, but at least I think I've steered you in the right direction to find that info.
It may be billon (a copper-silver alloy with fairly low silver content). In fact, it could be a billon blanca. "Blanca" being the Spanish word for "white", they may, when new, have had a light, silvery color. Look at this. It just happened to be the first thing I Googled up. Note the nice sandy patina (don't mess yours up!) and the similarities to your coin. Not an exact match, perhaps, but I'd say we're getting close...
Thanks, I'm not that bothered about value it's all about the history. That said it is easy to be totally wrong when something only costs 99p! It looks like it may be a blanca and sold on eBay as 'pirate treasure'. Maybe not, but in the right geographic area.
Sorry, seems I botched that link somehow. Try again Aha- the stupid autocorrect on my tablet changed "htm" to "him" in the URL. Pretty much anything on eBay is sold as "pirate treasure", which is 99.995% hogwash: ignorant or sleazy sellers catering to ignorant bidders.
Sadly their coin looks far nicer than mine but does look very similar. A nice cheap find that I will enjoy. Thank you again for all your efforts.
You're welcome. It was fun. I was just glad to see something that I at least had a partial clue on! (And FWIW, I don't think the York Coins example is THAT much nicer than yours! Nicer, yes, but not by a wide margin. Note the price, too! Again, leave that patina intact! It's a plus, not a minus!)
I find it amazing that things like this still turn up and sold by the unsuspecting. Just to settle your mind, it was left out of the water and still on my page stand board. It'll stay as is now for a couple of weeks and end up either in a capsule or flip.
Excellent! Sweet grab for 99p! You've got a coin of two of the most famous monarchs in history, there, 500 or so years old, for the price of a soda!
