Just joined the group to get an ID on a coin I found while out metal detecting. I have tried and tried to get an answer, but haven't got it. Here is what I got. ~25mm copper coin with what looks like King George or Edward on it, maybe even Napoleon III. Has wreath on back along diameter and maybe crown or star at top. Found in Central PA at abandoned early 19th homestead. Would really appreciate an ID. Thanks,
Nice coin and find.Its some kind of british/England coin i think and it looks like king Edward on the obverse to me.
My guess is that it is a French 5 Centimes of Napolean III. The portrait of Edward VII points to the right as opposed to the left.
The beard does look like Napoleon III 25 mm for the 5 centimes matches your diameter. Edit: Here's a side-by-side image at about the same scale.
I've changed my mind. I think it looks closer to a 5 Centesimi of Vittorio Emanuele II. The beard is straighter than on Napoleon III, whose beard tilts forward. Size is 25 mm and it has a wreath on the back with a star at the top.
Here we go, some comparative photos: Left: your find Center: 5 Centesimi Right: 5 Centimes There's not a lot of detail left, but your coin looks like a good match to the 5 centesimi to me.
I was looking under Italy on Numista and didn't come up with anything. I actually have one of those in my collection
Well at least it got tentatively identified as a LMU - Latin Monetary Unit, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Romania, Italy and Spain had their currencies unified in value and this monetary union lasted until WWI. It was a precursor to the euro and other countries had their currencies fixed in value to the LMU, Poland, Russia and Venezuela did. The US mint experimented with patterns based on the LMU.