My mom has collected coins for me since I was born 30 years ago. We recently found this coin behind another coin in the collection and neither of us remembers where it came from. The coin is unusually thin and in excellent condition. I have identified it as fiorino d'oro by the inscriptions but cannot find a value or any information on modern reproductions. ..
You got the design's name right, but it is better known as a florin. Unfortunately what you have there is a modern reproduction - a fake. It has the word COPY stamped right into the reverse. Apparently you noticed that as well. As for value, I doubt it has any. The chances it contains any actual gold are slim to known.
I found out that it is real gold and it was purchased at a jewelry store in Florence, Italy in 1987. It's probably only worth its melt value but I will be keeping it in my collection. Thanks!
I've looked at the reverse a few times and can't see anything that I can be sure says "copy"? If so, maybe a copy minted in gold? "In the fourteenth century, a hundred and fifty European states and local coin issuing authorities made their own copies of the florin. The most important of these was the Hungarian forint because the Kingdom of Hungary was a major source of gold mined in Europe (until the New World began to contribute to the supply in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, most of the gold used in Europe came fromAfrica)." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florin_(Italian_coin)
The COPY stamp is upside down - it's on the left. On the right appears to be a hallmark of some sort probably whoever made this.
OK. I saw that those but wasn't sure what they were from the picture. Do you k now if any/all of the other countries that were minting copies marked them as such? It sounded like some may have been using gold?
I have serious doubts that any marked COPY and hallmarked would be made of gold. It's possible some jeweler would do it, but unlikely.
