My guess is late 18th/early 19th Century British farthing, half penny or penny. The schnozzola looks like George III, and the reverse could be Brittania. What is the size?
The lower rounded portion of the design looks odd to me. The ones that I have seen are straight across at the lower portion. I am not well-versed in these types of coins, so I will definitely be watching this thread for any info. Thanks for posting it!
I have a very similar coin in my collection. Even the wear coin is similar to yours. The date is barely legible.....I think it says 1806. I assumed I had a british penny. As was mentioned in a previous post the reverse on my coin is straight across the bottom rather than rounded. I would try to get a pic up but I can't seem to image dark copper very well with my scanner.
Susan - congratulations on spotting the key to identifying this coin - that rounded bottom. When Metalman gives us the diameter, it will be about 23mm, because what we are looking at is KM#646, a copper farthing one-year issue from 1799. It's the only 18th or 19th Century George III copper with a rounded bottom beneath Brittania. The obverse legend is the standard "GEORGIUS III DEI GRATIA REX" (using "u", not "v" in the name this time), with the date centered below the bust. The reverse has a large "BRITTANIA" above and a smaller "FARTHING" below. As worn as it is, once upon a time it might have been either the KM#646a (gilt copper) or 646b (bronzed copper) version, but in its present condition I'd really be amazed if it isn't just plain copper. Krause says an F is worth $4, so this P-0 is probably worth slightly more than bupkis.
Hello Thank You everyone for all the response,,And sorry for the late reply but I work a late swing shift at the Mill, My nights can be as short as 9 hrs or as long as it takes to make sure that everything goes in the morning. the coin measures 30MM just slightly smaller than a half dollar,, I didnt figure it was worth much of anything, I just found it interesting ,,
Well, that's pretty embarassing! Of course it's a ha'penny - KM#647 - not a farthing, and the picture is right there two columns over in Krause. Guess my eyes are even worse than I thought. Now that I'm paying attention, I see that there's also a 1795 and 1800 penny, and a 1797 tuppence, of the same design. There are seven varieties listed of the ha'penny (including a proof and a bronzed copper), but all of the business strikes types are identified by details in the hull of the ship to the left of Britannia, so no one will ever know which variety this one is. (F valuation is $4 for two varieties of the regular strikes, and $5 for the other 3.)
Under a 16x loupe I can make out some lettering or numbers at the bottom of the coin below the figure of brittannia since this coin is about worthless maybe I will clean it and see what I can make out when the grime is gone,, what do you think any harm in that ?I appreciate the info Roy you are a true asset to this forum !!! Welcome to the crowd Susan,learning is the name of the game for me with this type of coin.
That depends entirely on what you mean by "harm". In this particular case it isn't likely to lower the resale value, but how many centuries of history will you be washing away? I have several early British coppers in roughly the same condition, which I've never tried cleaning - probably out of simple prejudice against cleaned coins.
