The first one is a bronze (atleast i think its bronze), about 3,6 cm diameter. The only recognizeable words i can make out are "Makedohnja" and on the other side "U.S. Customs Service". My guess is that it's a medal rather than a coin. The second coin is a tiny silver one, about 2,3 cm diameter. There are no recognizeable words for the untrained eye on this one, only a cross that resembles the maltese one. But i dont think this is "the" maltese cross, just a very similar one. I believe there's a celtic cross that resembles the maltese cross alot. i have no idea where they come from, we dug them up in the backyard of a friend and they've been one of my curiosa ever since, so maybe there's someone amongst you who can guide me in the right direction? many thanks!
dunno why the last picture won't show unless you click it :s, it's the back (or front?) side of the silver coin.
Your first coin, token or metal maybe either from Greece or Bulgaria. When When I did a name search for "Makedohnja," it looks like then name changed from Makedohnja to Macedonian. Resources that maybe helpful are: www.wildwind.com http://www.classicalcoins.com/bulgarian.html General search: 1700 - US Customs foreign tokens. coins & medals
The first may be a military challenge coin. No clue as to the others. Military challenge coin info..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_coin
Cannot read the date on the first piece. But the text above the year looks like "КЕБС" to me. And I think that refers to what was called CSCE until a couple of years ago (Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe; now OSCE). So maybe - and this just a fairly wild guess - it has something to do with Macedonia's CSCE membership? Christian
I believe the second coin (hammered) is a replica of a Viking money or Danegeld...the sword is the giveaway...The quality of the picture keeps me from reading the text but it is similar to the one below (which is fake) and I think its just as fake. The type you have were issued by Viking rulers in York and I believe are refered to as a 'war penny' but I think it should ID as a 'St. Peter of York money' minted around 920's A.D. : here is an old die housed in York that shows the coin your example is imitating...yours might have been minted there as a replica? There are many types minted as replicas and sell for a few dollars in pewter. then again, some would say I am more wrong than right most of the time so you might want to disregard this info.
thanks you guys! I already knew they weren't of much value but i was just interested in finding the origins . I already thought of macedonia and the link with CSCE makes sense. i'll do some googling on that one. And thanks for identifying the silver one as a forgery, now i can lay that one aside and dont bother anymore thanks again! x
No, I think you are right on with discribing Fakes to Originals. We couldn't get enough of that information; thanks for sharing. Fakes are clearly fake when compared to original aged coins, tokens and medals, we just have to train our emotions of a good find to stay out of the way when we are presented with the rareity of a good ol' coin.
