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Old coin? Someone help me ID?

I got this from my dad when I was a wee lad. Don't remember anything about it and he passed when I was 11....Had it in my coin collection since then...never gave it much thought but defiantly the most unique thing I have in the collection... I am not a coin buff, just always put back coins...IE Silver, mercury dimes, steel pennies, buffalo head nickels, silver certificates, oddball stuff, etc.

I don't know the value of anything I have; but this I just hope to find more out about this one.....

My pops was a WW2 Vet, Theres a chance maybe he picked it up during his tour? Who knows? Maybe one of me chums can help me Identify it. Thanks Gents!

Its about the size of a penny maybe a tad larger....

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Comments

  • TwoKopeikiTwoKopeiki Posts: 9,528 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Welcome to the forums, Lyptix! Neat coin, can you read the inscription, even if partially, around the edge?
  • No, I cant make heads or tails of any of it...

    maybe a word starting with a "C" and "O" ....best I can see....the other side is plain, no markings at all...
  • SapyxSapyx Posts: 1,976 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Not a coin, I suspect, but exactly what it is I'm not sure.

    I think the "CO" word is "COLOUR" (you can see it from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock in the lower picture). The other words are harder to make out, but my best guess is it seems to be "IXIRA" at the top (from 6 o'clock to 8 o'clock) and a word like "ITEM" (though that's probably wrong, the last letter looks like an "N") to the left of "COLOUR" (3 o'clock to 4 o'clock).

    My best guess: a demonstration sample piece. The blob of yellow stuff in the middle (paint? gilding? varnish?) is the stuff being demonstrated; it shows you what it actually looks like when it's stuck to something.
    Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.
    Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"

    Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD. B)
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I can read the word "COLOUR", and thanks to my experience as a metal detectorist, I can solve this mystery for you.

    What you have there is not a coin, but is in fact an early 19th-century flat button, circa 1830 or thereabouts.

    These were frequently marked on the back with inscriptions like TREBLE GILT or ORANGE COLOUR or similar terms.

    It appears yours reads, "EXTRA RICH COLOUR". The discolored area in the middle is where the braised-on shank (loop attachment) came off.

    It is also obvious that this example was a ground find, and probably came to light as a result of someone using a metal detector (or digging in a garden, etc). Did your late father do any Civil War relic hunting or anything like that?

    These buttons were copper or brass with a thin gold plating (which is the "colour" referred to). Some were tin plated, with a silvery color. In many cases, as with yours, the gold plating did not survive a century or more of being buried in the ground.

    A few of these had geometric or floral designs on the front, but most, like yours, just had a plain front. Some of these with designs on the front are referred to as "Jacksonian" buttons because they were popular during the presidency of Andrew Jackson.

    It is not surprising that one of these could be mistaken for a coin. We detectorist/treasure hunters often refer to them as "coin buttons", and I think some of the archaeological community use this nickname as well.

    Most buttons like this that I have dug personally were found on old plantation sites, in an 1820s-1830s context.

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  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Here's a similar button from that period.

    I did not find the one pictured, but have found many similar pieces.

    image

    Courtesy link to source page.


    I once found one with almost all of its original gilt intact, which seldom happens- the plating usually doesn't survive ground action. What was even more amazing was that a piece of thread was still knotted through the shank!

    They were used up into the Civil War period, but most are from around the 1830s. Earlier ones, from the late 1700s and very early 1800s, tended to be bigger around and thinner. On one site, I dug a deep one with the shank missing, and thought I'd found my first large cent. A few feet away from it, I got a similar signal, and thought I had found another big flat button, but the second target turned out to be indeed my first large cent, a Draped Bust.

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  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    What happened to Lyptix, anyway? Just a flash in the pan? Here and then gone, apparently.

    Shucks. And I was pretty proud o' meself for solvin' this mystery, too. image

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  • bonkroodbonkrood Posts: 796 ✭✭✭


    << <i>What happened to Lyptix, anyway? Just a flash in the pan? Here and then gone, apparently.

    Shucks. And I was pretty proud o' meself for solvin' this mystery, too. image >>



    Don't know where he went, but another interesting read. image
    image Steam Power
  • TwoKopeikiTwoKopeiki Posts: 9,528 ✭✭✭✭✭
    LordM, don't know about Lyptix, but i've enjoed the info! Thanks! image

    P.S. You should go detect in Europe image
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>You should go detect in Europe >>

    'Tis a lifelong dream of mine. (Well, at least "lifelong" since I've been a treasure hunter, which goes back to when I was ten years old or less...)

    *sigh*

    Maybe one day. Hopefully before I'm too old to swing the 'tector.

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  • Come visit me Rob. You can stay at my place and detect here in Norway. There are several towns 1000 years old within an hours driver from here.

    The place where I liveis young, only about 800 years old.
    image
    Becoming informed but still trying to learn every day!
    1-Dammit Boy Oct 14,2003

    International Coins
    "A work in progress"


    Wayne
    eBay registered name:
    Hard_ Search (buyer/bidder, a small time seller)
    e-mail: wayne.whatley@gmail.com
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I might have to take you up on that one day. image

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  • Hey I am still here people. Just lurking. I don't have much to add to the forums, as I have no knowledge on the subjects, but I do enjoy old coins even though I can't tell you much if anything about them!

    I still have some old American coins in my safe!
  • Also forgot to mention thanks to lordmarcovan for ending my search for what this item really was! Makes a great story!
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I was wondering what had become of you.

    Well, soon it will be metal detecting season for me here, and I hope to see some of those buttons. Where those buttons come up, the sweet coins are often nearby.

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
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