Another mystery coin.

goldrush00013

Here is a coin dated 1722,the reverse is totally blank. I'm not sure if it was buffed out or what's going on here.Any ideas on this one?

lordmarcovan

Y'know, just once in a while, you could post an easy one... it wouldn't hurt.

*sigh*

Let me scratch my head for a bit...

lordmarcovan

Okay.

Bad news and good news.

The bad news is, I was unable to find an exact match.

The good news is, I was able to get pretty close. I would guess that it's almost certainly Austrian (don'tcha love how I used the words "guess" and "certainly" in the same sentence?)

Austria and the Austrian States issued a number of very similar-looking kreuzers and half-kreuzers in billon and silver. They were teeny little suckers. (In fact, some of the actual-size B&W pics in Krause of the half-kreuzers are so small and grainy that it is hard to make out much detail). How big is your coin?

I saw several with the three oval shields and the date at top, with similar ornamentation around the shields. Quite close. In fact, some had your same double-headed eagle in the top shield, but the devices on one or two of the lower shields was different. And the date ranges on these types were either slightly before or slightly after your coin. So the period is right.

Now, here comes the interesting part, and more good news for you...

I had initially thought your coin had had one side planed off to make a love token, but it isn't so.

All of these similar kreuzers and half-kreuzers I just mentioned? They were issued uniface. There was no design on the other side! So you don't have a damaged coin at all!

Now I will leave it to somebody else to pin down what Austrian state or other mint created this coin. It could be German, too, for all I know. But it is startlingly similar to the Austrian pieces I mentioned. I just couldn't pin it down exactly.

goldrush00013

Thanks LordM, you are a great coin detective. Interesting that they were made uniface,after looking at the coin for a while I couldn't see anything that showed abrasion marks or the like on the uniface side.
BTW my coin is 16mm in diameter.

Also I have been trying to find info on the copper coin I posted earlier,but it's turning out to be the biggest mystery of all.

Askari

I've never heard why they issued uniface coins -- it was a most unusual practice.

ColinCMR

Cool, never seen one of those before.

lordmarcovan

I still haven't cracked the case of the mysterious "84" copper coin. I thought I saw something vaguely similar to it while I was chasing this one down, but it turned out to be a wild goose chase.

Askari

I already solved that mystery Milord. Go take a gander (but no goosing).

lordmarcovan

Verily, thou art indeed worthy of thy Sorcerous title.

Any clues on this one?

Askari

If I get the chance to research this later on, I will. I know what it is, but not precisely from whence it came.