Hello everyone, pleased to be here. I've been a coin collector for some time, and had a neat discovery tonight when an uncle of mine pulled out a coin from 1770. He had no idea where it was from, but I am almost positive it is Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria. The closest photo I could find on the web was a coin from 1772, but the design was entirely different so either I've got a wire crossed or it was a different mintage. I've done some research, and I found the currency of Bavaria from 1754-1873, but this applied only to paper money so I've no idea what the coin is called. I'm assuming the 20 refers to 20 units of whatever it is? Is the coin currency the Kreuzer? Anyway, I've attached a front and back photos, and would love any more information. There's no interest in selling, but of course if anyone had a rough kind of idea what it could be worth I wouldn't be adverse to hearing it Thanks! (as per the images, the image quality had to be reduced about 30% for uploading, but the coin is in even better shape than it appears)
You have indeed a 20 kreuzer from Bavaria in the name of Maximilian III Joseph. It is listed in Krause as Bavaria 20 kreuzer KM#251 and was minted from 1770-1777 As you found out already, during the same period there was a 20 kreuzer issued with the image of the Madonna and Child in stead of the crowned Bavarian arms (KM#250). The coin with madonna is much more common than the coin with crowned Bavarian arms. Krause gives no mintages, but the catalog values of your coin are 4 times the catalog values of the madonna coin. Your coin: VG/F/VF/XF : 60/120/250/500 US$ The coin with madonna : VG/F/VF/XF : 15/30/75/150 US $
Wow, that's remarkable. Was there any special reason for the two different coins and the Bavarian arms (ie. special purpose, place of mintage, etc.) or just a different design? Also, I am familiar with the grading codes but not really how they work. I know you can't judge simply by a photo, but how would you perhaps grade it? Also, any idea where you could potentially look for the mintage? Thanks for all of this information!
