Hi All, The fine folks over at the US forums helped me identify a fake - I need help again with a potential Hyderabad (Indian Princely States) coin. I don't see this coin listed in Krause 1901-2000. Any ID guesses? Thanks in advance, Morondrill
Have you tried checking the 19th Century Krause? The look and feel of the coin is certainly consistent with that era.
Thanks Hontonai, I don't have the 1801-1900 Krause yet. Ordered it from Amazon, they are out of stock and the book appears to be 2 weeks away. I will refer to the book once I recieve it. Thanks for the input.
Just looked through the 1800 to 1900 for Hydrabad and I dont see it sorry, would you like me to look anywere else?
Well, I give up, at least for now. I've looked through the Indian Mughal Empire, Independent Kingdoms, Princely States and European Influence sections the 17th/18th Century Krause books - about 200 pages in total - without success. The obverse(?) appears to be a mosque, so I guess any Muslim country is a possibility. Indonesia, Iran, Ottoman Empire, etc., etc.
You won't find it in a catalog since it is not a real coin. You might find it under religious tokens in Michener's book. I don't have this so can't be sure. Many a times these were copies of circulating coinage.
Thanks a lot hontonai, De Orc, (v) for your time and effort. I was almost certain the mosque like structure was the 'Charminar' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charminar). (v) - Can you please pass me the title or a pointer to 'Michener's' book. Online and Amazon queries for 'Michener/Ron Michener' are drawing up a blank. Also, if it isn't too much trouble - Can you please explain how you could figure out that this wasn't a real coin?
I am sorry morondrill I got the spelling of the name all wrong! It is actually Michael Mitchiner and the book is "Indian Tokens: Popular Religious & Secular Art". http://books.google.com/books?id=hjtXNQAACAAJ&dq=michael+Mitchiner+Indian+Tokens:+Popular+Religious+%26+Secular+Art&lr=
Ooh !! Difficult book to get hold off. My local library system doesn't have it and Amazon is asking me 100+ bucks for it Let's see. Maybe I can get someone to read the Urdu/Arabic on the coin. That might help? I'll keep you guys posted.
Visit you local public library and ask them if they can find the book in their regular network for inter-library loan. (A library card is a necessity for any serious collector IMHO.) If they don't find it, go to http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/43184281 and scroll down to "Borrow or Obtain a Copy". Enter your zip code and click on "Find Libraries". Print out the list of libraries which have the book, and take it to your library to see if they can get it from one of the places on that list. Good luck!