This rattle was made of an old coin, the information I found on an old inventory card is the following: Carolus III coin, made by F.M. Ensayador, M.o. = mexico (FM is in mirror image) dated probably 1772 worth: 8 realen width: 5 cm Could anyone tell me if this information is correct? I saw many coins of this type on the internet, but none of them seems to look precisely like this one. thank you in advance, Mirjam
The coin looks like a Spanish Milled Dollar (eight reales). The coin looks odd and may well be counterfeit, but it could also have been changed by whoever put it in the bezel. Very unusual piece.
additional information on Carolus III coin rattle Hi, thanks for your quick answer. The information I can add is that it was a custom in the Netherlands (probably elsewhere as well) from the second half of the 16th century onwards to hand over a coin once a couple made verbal agreement to a marriage. Both old coins ans specially made marriage commemorative coins were used. Once a child was born the coin was often transferred into a babyrattle by adding bells and sometimes a small flute as well.
That's very interesting. Thanks for that bit of history! I'm going to write it down for future reference.
