Just before the world was turned upside down, I won a mixed lot of world coins in a Dix Noonan Webb auction. Little did I know when I bid, that the coins each had a corresponding identification “tag”. The challenge was that the coins were shipped separate from the tags, so I have had my work cut out for me in matching them up. I actually had them all identified but then the board they were arranged on got knocked over sending me back to square one. Luckily, I have plenty of time on my hands when I’m not teaching my own kids at home on quarantine or teaching my own high school students remotely. So, here’s my plan: I am going to post images of five of the coins a day to this thread. This will force me to image each coin and properly mate them with their identification tag. My ultimate goal will be to sell most of them (minus ones I wish to keep for my personal collection) to recoup some of the cost of the lot. I hope everyone enjoys seeing a really eclectic mix of world coins from the past thousand years or so... To begin, we have some Leopold “The Hogmouth” pieces. The original Hapsburg lip is on full display here:
AHHHH!, Those Handsome Hapsburgs. Another excuse for the engraver's 'poetic license'! (That was not used...hopefully) Nice examples, Mark, J.T.
Nice, I like it when coins come with old tags. Especially, when it identifies prior owners. I look forward to seeing more.
I love going through lots like these so will enjoy yours vicariously. You might need this if you don't already have the information.
Here’s some more... A couple for fans of Dracula and a Malta piece that @mrbadexample sent me a document identifying the countermarks.
Loving those tickets, I'd be lost on all the hammered stuff without them. Early, low mintage 2 abazi too.
OK, you can stop now. All really nice. One of my main collecting areas is Malta. Here is a somewhat similar countermarked piece that I have. Your countermarks are very clear.
I really like how clear the John the Baptist countermark is on my coin. Do the various countermarks add value? How would you value my 2 tari?
IMO it certainly doesn't lower the value. I'll have to do some checking tomorrow unless someone else does it tonight. Can you make out the date on the coin? It looks doubtful. If you can determine the date I think that would give you a little bump in value. Your host coin is in lower grade but the countermarks are much clearer.
Looks like the date is either 1643 or 1645 based on what appears to be the base of a 4 and the bottom curl of a 3 or a 5.
I was admiring the clarity of the countermarks yesterday - mine are nowhere near as nice. I think they would add value, especially if you can get a coin with 5 or more.
I consulted my "Coins Minted by the Knights in Malta" by John A Gatt. It's a fantastic reference but that's beside the point. I would say yours probably dated 1643. The bottom of the last 2 digits match pretty well. Most of the images show coins with countermarks which is what I have found in my searches. So, having countermarks won't increase the value but the quality of yours will help. It most have circulated for quite a while before being marked. To give a broad range I would think yours would fall in the $100-$200 range.
That testone of Cosimo I de Medici is actually quite interesting. It is a stellino (note the star to the right of Cosimo's head). It was an issue that was overstruck on a testone of Genoa depicting the blessing of the doge, that was widely circulated in Florence. They were slightly heavier than the regular Florentine Testoni, so in August of 1554, instead of reclaiming the coins by melting them Cosimo's government decided to save money by simply re-striking them. The namesake star was included in order to distinguish them from the regular testoni.