This shouldn't be this hard. The date 1791 is clear, but unfortunately the other side is worn away. I did a Google image search and I found a few matches, but they are all in foreign languages. They indicate it is a Tuscany 1 soldo. However, I search for 1791 Tuscany 1 soldo and I don't find anything. Anyone know what I have?
That's it but it doesn't say what country exactly it's from (there was no Italy then.) Plus why can't I find it on the major sites like Numista?
Good idea but I don't see anything. Tuscany seems to be the right answer but I don't know why I can't find it in a good reference.
I didn't think there are a lot of specialists in this area. Krause still uses the old Craig number. It's under 3 quattrini on the NGC site. Unfortunately, like some smaller German States denominations, what is on the coin itself isn't necessarily the denomination you need to look up! Now, I'm sure there is a more authoritative work that these that is likely very old and in Italian! As to why it's not on numista...the site is crowd sourced if you will. So, if you don't have a user actively interested in and listing the coins on the site, they simply aren't there. You can create an account and add it yourself! I've done this with many older German coins. I can think of only one person I know that actively collects Italian states smaller denominations and even his collection is mostly the papal states. Much like the rest of the world, everyone wants the big crown sized ones!
Looks like a Tuscany 1 Soldo to me. Here's the picture from Krause (5th Edition) Listed as "3 Quattrini" Lots of Italian minors are listed in Krause but no photo. Fortunately, this one has a photo and looks like a good match to me. I have a lot of Italian minors which don't seem to exactly match anything. I suspect there are variants, especially for older coins.
Thanks! I didn't realize the site was crowd sourced but that explains it, along with the alternate denomination. I've noticed like on the German states coins there are all different spellings of "pfennig" but when you look them up they tend to use it like I spelled it. It's true that the rest of the world likes the crown sized coins but I find a lot of value with the smaller ones. This one looks like a good score and it probably cost me 25 cents.
M. D. ETR = Magnus Ducatus Etruriae. The "Grand Duchy of Etruria" was a sovereign state which existed from 1569 up until 1859, with a break between 1801 and 1815 when Napoleon Bonaparte created the Kingdom of Etruria for Ludovico Filiberto, son of the Duke of Parma. Based in Florence, this Duchy beame part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in, I think, the 18th Century. The grand duke of Etruria had ius cudendae monetae, the legal right to strike coins.
