Any idea what this coin is?

Hi everyone - I'm new to this forum and am not an avid coin collector. I inherited a fairly substantial collection and am trying to figure out what this coin is. Anyone have any ideas? Sorry for the blurry pics - iPhone can't focus on it close up Thanks for any input.

 

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Welcome to CT, this is the coin collectors hangout. and as far as I know about the coin.... it is an ancient coin!

 

Your coin is a copy of an ancient coin. It says copy on it in your second picture.

 

You have a copy of an ancient coin of Gela in Sicily. Notice on the reverse, under the horse, it even says "copy". Hope the other coins you inherited are real- please keep posting any you can't identify.

 

"In reverso veritas"

 

Thank you for the responses. Too bad this is a copy (couldn't quite read what that said). Oh well. I'm pretty sure all of the others are real. This one was in a separate container than the others. However, there is a 1796 one cent coin in that same container so now you've got me worried that is fake too .

 

If the 1796 is real it would be worth $350 + Love to see a picture of it

 

See 1796 cent pics. There is all sorts of other stuff in the bucket.

 

My god

That bucket!

 

I suddenly want to be your best friend... that's a NICE inheritance! Hope you keep posting your finds and share it with us. Welcome to CT!

 

The 1796 large cent looks very nice I don't see anything to lead me to think it's fake at all. The wear and corrosion seems consistant with a coin that is 222 years old. I have an 1808 that is in worse condition. I would think that coin should grade at least G4 and since it appears to have the 1794 reverse I think it's worth $475. Can you post a pic of the reverse of the 1854 small gold coin in the plastic holder? Thanks

 

Nice collection you Have! I'd If you have any more 1960 have dollars please. Pm me. I need one to give as a gift to my dad. Thanks.

 

See reverse of the little gold 1/2. There is actually a whole pile of those, some round, some hexagon. I also just found some coin dated 1780 but I didn't think e even had a US Mint then so assuming it is foreign? Anyone recognize it?? I found a big stack of bills too with red numbering. Not sure what that represents? Oh, and a big pile of Indian Head pennies. Sorry for being stupid but this is not my forte.

 

The 1780 coin is a Maria Theresa thaler, originally struck in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. These have been copied (usually in good silver) in many countries since then, up to quite recently; there are apparently some small details that can be used to tell if you have an original or a restrike, and roughly when and where the restrike was made. (Sorry, I don't know how to tell if it's original or a restrike.)

The small gold coins look like California fractional gold; the originals were privately made in California to turn locally-mined gold dust into a more convenient form, and to provide small change for local commerce. These have also been heavily copied, sometimes in good gold, often only gold-plated or just gold-colored; again, I am not an expert in this series, but maybe that can point you in the right direction.

Oh, and don't apologize for "being stupid." The first step towards wisdom is acknowledging that you don't know something, and seeking out help. You would only be truly stupid if you assumed that you already know everything and refused to listen to anyone else.

 

Thanks so much for the info. Greatly appreciated! All of these coins/bills were collected by my grandmother in the 40's - 60's. She passed away in 1973 and this collection hasn't been touched since. I say this in case this factors into whether they are copies or originals. If the copies have been put out there in the past 50 years, these won't be it.

 

Sorry if you already know this but: Be careful handling anything with your fingers.
Yes, some of these it wouldn't matter, but many it would. Always best to err on side of caution, buy a couple pairs of the thin cotton white gloves.
And of course, don't attempt to clean anything.

Thank you for sharing. You are exetremly lucky to inherit such a hoard.

 

Don't feel bad Madams36 nothing wrong with not knowing what you have especially if you're not a coin collector. For what its worth I'd strongly recommend that you don't take anyone's advice here not even mine!!! But seriously you do need to find a legitimate coin dealer preferably near where you live and bring your awesome collection to them and have them appraise your coins. I'm sorry for your loss and your grandmother had quite a variety. Like the others have said the first coin you posted was stamped "COPY" so therefore it's not worth anything and after seeing the pics of the small gold coins IMHO I think they're fakes as well but remember don't take my word for it appraisals should never be done through photographs. The 1780 coin certainly looks foreign, the first American coin was a half dime minted in 1792. The red seal paper money looks awesome you have quite a bankroll there. Remember try to find a reputable coin dealer near you to have your collection verified and appraised. You'll have to pay a fee for their service though. One bit of advice: if a coin is worth say $100 a collector might be willing to pay at least close to that or maybe even more depending on what coin it is. BUT a dealer will never pay anything near that, you'll be lucky to get $50 for that same coin. You could however if you're not in need of the money you'd get for your collection to maybe try to do a little research, look at coin books try to determine what each coin is (keep a log book for yourself) and don't forget mintmarks. You have a nice lot of Morgan silver dollars. A lot of common Morgan dollars would only sell for silver value which I think is a shame. Most old coins had mintmarks on the reverse (but not all some were on the front) a coin with NO mintmark means it was minted in Philadelphia, a D is for Denver (or on early gold coins the Dahlonega Mint in Georgia), an S is for San Francisco, an O is for New Orleans, a C (on old gold coins) is for Charlotte, North Carolina, CC is for Carson City and W for West Point but that is only on 1973 and up coins. Morgan dollars with CC are very desirable and much more valuable than most. Coin collecting can be very lucrative and it can be the downfall of others. It seems you have a lot of things to go through looking intently at each coin and each bill and I know it will take a lot of time to do it. If you'd prefer not to burden yourself then you really should enlist the help of a professional near you. Doing research online is a great way to learn but don't sell your collection too abruptly.

 

Thank you so much for all of the info. I'll need to go thru and check for the mint marks. I'm in no hurry to sell them so will take my time determining what I have and deciding what to do. There is a reputable dealer in my area (Andy Miller Rare Coins in Hamburg, PA) so I may see what they have to say. There is another metal lockbox with thousands more pre-1960 quarters, dimes, nickels that I haven't even looked at along with some proof sets from the 60's that probably aren't worth much.
That being said, if any of you collectors are looking for specific coins/bills or have interest in something, let me know and I'd be happy to sell most of them. My kids and I probably want to keep a few of them but 95% of it can go.

 

That's great I'm so glad to hear that you have a spark of interest in this. I personally have been collecting coins for over 50 years but I'm not a professional by any means. I do however have a love for numismatics. Hopefully your kids will appreciate them as much as your mother did and maybe start a new collector in them! Being just recently retired I'd love going through a hoard of coins like yours but I know you don't know me and I don't know you so I hope you have fun looking at all of them and learning about coins it can be a fun hobby especially when there's value involved. Oh and I almost forgot one thing (I don't mean to throw a monkey wrench into the works) there's also something else to look for in coins. Errors. The Mint inadvertantly produces errors. There's all kinds of errors way too many to try to explain here. I didn't specifically see anything in your pictures that showed any errors but they could be possible. If you do find any errors they could add a significant amout of value to an already valuable coin. Do some research with your kids and it might not be a bad idea to separate your coins into denominations first and study one type of coin at a time. You could start with whatever you have the most of, or the least of, or just start with one cent coins and continue from there. If there's anything you can't identify you can always come back here and ask someone. Good luck again and happy coin hunting!!!

 

Were you aware that this hoard of coins and bills existed or did you just come upon it recently? Where were the coins and bills stored? My imagination is running wild...like it's kept in a secret compartment at her house or something like that lol. Almost 45 years since she passed away...I bet the story alone is priceless. Thanks for sharing again. I hope we get to see more of what the rest of the coins are in the bucket