Austria/Breslau 3K: A Small Variety Discovered

JamminJ

Hello everyone,

Recently a second example of a 1669 SHS Austria Breslau mint 3 kreuzer, KM 79, came into my possession. While trying to determine which to keep and which to sell or trade I discovered something neat. While Krause states “varieties exist” for this type I never knew what they meant until I took a close look at my two coins. Have a look:





The first thing I noticed was that the top one is medal aligned and the second coin aligned. I may not have noticed this had these two coins not reside in slabs. But the differences don’t end there, take a close look at the legends on the two coins:

Obverse:
Top:.........LEOPOLD D G R I S (3) A G H B R
Bottom:...LEOPOLD D G R (3) I S A G H B R
Reverse:
Top:.........ARCHID AV (SHS) DVX B & SI
Bottom:...ARCHID AV (SHS) D BVR & SIL

Clearly these are different varieties of the same type. Not an earth shattering discovery, but pretty darn cool as I’ve never found anything like this before now. Needless to say I’ll be keeping both of the coins.

Ass always, comment are welcome and I’ll reveal the grades on the slabs later in case anyone would like to play “guess the grade.” It may be controversial!

-JamminJ

lordmarcovan

Neat.

I just discovered an unlisted variety on a modern Iranian 1-rial piece.

Three of thirteen I examined had repunched dates, with an extra bar across the top of the Arabic numeral 3's. I'll be putting a pair (one normal, one repunched) up on eBay. Again, it is probably not any rare variety (after all, I found three of them), but interesting, nonetheless.

Of course, all varieties aside, a Hogmouth 3-kreuzer from the 1660's is a lot more interesting than an F.A.O. issue Iranian 1-rial from the 1970's.

Philip

Great, soon you're going to collect die varieties. SCAM VARIETY #3502884, rarity 132848, less than 1 pcs estimated to exist, for example.

lordmarcovan

Die varieties are personally a big yawn for me, but I gotta admit, they're interesting when you happen to be the discoverer.

1jester

"Of course, all varieties aside, a Hogmouth 3-kreuzer from the 1660's is a lot more interesting than an F.A.O. issue Iranian 1-rial from the 1970's." --meLord

You don't say???

JJ, it is interesting. Perhaps you'll find that one of these varieties is valuable. Consult some experts in that area; some varieties are bound to be rare and valuable.

Conder101

If that had been a 19th or 20th century coin it would have been listed as a different type rather than just a variety.

Spinynorman

That's not a small variety, for sure. The portrait is larger on the second coin, also.

lordmarcovan

Geez, I totally missed that. You're right.

historygeek

So, are you going to sell the coin?

spoon

Odd that they'd screw up the legends so drastically.. it's usually pretty easy to spot different dies on medieval stuff, especially in portrait variations.. but I don't recall ever seeing something with a mistake like that?? Which legend is standard for the series? Do you have any info on who the mintmasters were? That might help reveal some things. Looks like someone may have been asleep when the designs were discussed

As for grade, I'll go high and say MS62, though the lower one looks a weak in one spot???

JamminJ

Thanks for the replies!

I agree it's more significant than a die state variety, rather being more of a sub type like one of those KMXXX.1 and KMXXX.2 things.

The mintmaster was the same or both coins (SHS)=Salomon Hammerschmidt and the standard legend listed in the catalog is for the upper coin.

I'll be keeping both and the upper one isin a MS63 slab and the lower in a MS64 slab. Fodder for you non slab guys as the upper one is clearly a superior coin but these are tough, tough tough to grade.

-JamminJ