Austria 7 Kreuzer

Philip

Today I purchased this coin, dated 1763 and showing the bust of Ferdinand.

Krause lists it as being silver, but my coin shows a copper color. On the other hand it is worn, holed and cleaned and this adds to my confusion. I also bought a 12 Kreuzer piece from 1795 and it had a distinct silver color, despite having a lower silver content.

Anybody know anything about this?

elverno

They used a silver wash over the billon coin. At least that's pretty clear with the 1795 12 kr.:
1795 12 Kr.

These were overstruck and changed into 7 kr. pieces in 1802 where you can really see the wash in this example:
1802 7 Kr.

Here's a holed version of the same coin, but the 1795 coin clearly shows through on the reverse:
1802/1795 overstrike

Philip

I see that I haven't been precise enough. My question concerned the 7 Kreuzers from 1763 and not the overstruck batch from 1802.

Besides, my 12 Kreuzers are so worn that no silver wash trace can be found anyway My confusion is that the coin still looks silverish despite being worn, whereas those old 7 Kreuzers look to be copper, despite what Krause claims.