I am helping a friend’s 89 year old mother with a box of coins that she hopes will make her rich. Or at least richer. most were unremarkable common coins but these 2 caught my eye. I know the first is a silver 1 Gulden coin but I can’t find anything about it. Everything I see is for a 2 1/2 Gulden. Is this collectible? Possible value (retail and wholesale). Any info will be welcomed. The second is a rather large and heavy Shakespeare token. The back is damaged or has a glue I can’t remove. There are hundreds of Shakespeare tokens and I didn’t find this one so if anybody can offer some info on it, it will be great. thanks
https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide...-km-161.1-1922-1944-cuid-1084065-duid-1431515 '38 seems like a pretty good year.
The Shakespeare medal has an 1818 date, and the style of it looks consistent with that. Likely struck in some "white metal" alloy. The damage to the back is unfortunately irreversible, but overall, it's not awful for a 203-year-old piece. The Latin "NATVS STRATFORDIAE IN BRITANNIA AN. MDLXIV" is, of course, "Born (in) Stratford (in) Britain (in the year) 1564". I can't read the smaller Latin inscription, but there's the 1818 (MDCCCXVIII) date below that, which is presumably the date of issue for the medal. Here's the Numista page on that 1-gulden, to add to the NGC info that @derkerlegand already linked to. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces6070.html
The Shakespeare medal is from the famous "Series Numismatica" set of portrait medals by Durand. Durand did the reverses for the medals, and other medalists were commissioned to do the portraits. I honestly cannot tell if yours is genuine but beat-up, or a beat-up cast copy. The scrapings on the reverse make me think this is a cast lead copy with a silver wash. Most medals in this series are relatively common in bronze and scarce to very rare in silver.
Thanks for that added info. I concur- it looks like cast lead with silver plating. So a copy, then, but maybe still an older copy?
