1766 Austria Thaler... Genuine or not?

airplanenut

I can't find too many pictures of these online, so I'm not sure of the quality variation. I'm concerned that the details, especially on the reverse lettering, look soft. The angle of the 66 in the date is also much more tilted than I've seen in any photos, but that I'm happy to chalk up to a die variety that I haven't seen. The piece has been harshly cleaned (lots of heavy hairlining), and I suppose that could round the edges of the details a bit. It weighs 27.6g (Krause doesn't list the weight for this piece). Anyway, does anyone else have an opinion to share?

lordmarcovan

I know nothing of the type, but the lettering and some of the other details look suspect to me.

It just generally has that "Made In China" look. You know what I mean.

That being said, on a harshly cleaned piece, who knows if the scrubbing itself is what is actually tripping my alarm bells or whether there really is any other concern.

I don't know.

worldcoinguy

I have to agree with LordM's opinion that it looks like a Chinese copy. I don't like the clubbed foot style lettering on the reverse - NORMAM in particular. The device fields also have that wizzed/smoothed look with an absence of ticks/bumps that one would expect from that much wear.

This looks a similar die strike:

CIVITAS

I'm curious, what does the edge look like?

airplanenut

<< <i>I'm curious, what does the edge look like? >>

I don't have a picture of it, but it is lettered/patterned. It's not particularly sharp, but my experience has been that even on coins with unquestionable authenticity, the edge details can be spottier than the obverse/reverse. If I remember, I can show you the piece on Friday.