This is a long shot, but I thought maybe someone might have seen something like this before. It is a Louis XIV 1/12 ecu 1660 fastened by four silver straps to a piece of stone (sandstone?). It is about a century too early for the fall of the Bastille. The answer would be appreciated, humor allowed, but keep it clean.
Howdy labarbedor - Welcome to the Forum !! I'm a collector of Louis XIIII coinage and that's a new one on me. Whatever it is - the value of the coin itself has been destroyed by attaching it to a piece of stone. But it may be significant in some other way that I have never heard of. Can you post a pic ?
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It looks to me like somebody took a very nice coin, one I would be proud to own, and made a paperweight out of it
The term paperweight doen't have to be taken literally. But it may as well be as they ruined the coin by doing that to it. I have no idea what the actual reason could have been
if I had to take a guess, it would be that the rock is somehow significant, maybe? A piece of a building or some such... It has been purposefully made as some sort of a souvineir, so the rock must be part of the theme... I can't image anyone doing something like that with a rock they found in a cornfield - but people do strange things, sometimes. I agree with doug. It's unfortunate because that was, at one time, a beautiful coin.
In my business, antique silver, coins are often used to make or decorate silver items, and rarely induces feelings of sadness. I could really bum you guys out, by showing some other pieces. Instead could I ask where on this coin does one find the mintmark, and what are the choices, in case it is hard to read?
OK i'm going to be a tad contrarian here. I don't think the coin has been ruined, although it's as much use as a one legged man in a butt kicking competition in it's current state (as far as a pure `numismatist' is concerned). However, I believe that the coin could be released from it's prison and that it may not have suffered from it's imprisonment. However, I could be wrong, and in any event if you take it out to check i'm pretty sure it won't go back in again. So it's best left as is. My initial thoughts about the use of the rock etc is symbolry for `this belongs to Louis XIV'. That is, the land attached was discovered by the French, and it is now under the jurisdiction of the French king. Perhaps it either represents Louisianna or Canada or some spot in the Caribean? just thinking out loud of course..... I'd certainly buy it for $15+ with a good story line, but bear in mind that if you are going to use my story line i'll be expecting a cut ;-) Ian
The back edge of the coin is mostly visible. Where and what would the mint mark be? As for the numistmatic value, silver solder cannot be removed. I have removed solder from gold coins, but only lead based solder, and even that is a tedious job.
The reverse has a large crowned shield on it. The letter indicating the mint should be directly under the point of the shield near the edge.
Forgive me for butting in but would the object and coin not have more of a novelty value to it?? It was obviously done quite a long time ago and the solder marks wouldn't help the coin at all so what about leaving it as is???
You're not butting in; as a matter of fact the piece will remain as is. Most of the pieces I have made from coins are far more valuable than the coins they include.