Author Topic: help identifying coins (Read 707 times)

jorge c2 · « **on:** October 09, 2012, 07:46:29 pm »

good night
my name is jorge I'm from Portugal and I started collecting little time and try to identify Roman coins for my collection which is mainly of notes and coins medieval and portuguese republic
I ask for help to members who can help me to try to identify the coins attached
I have books but still can not find any of these coins
regards
Jorge Carneiro

Aarmale · « **Reply #1 on:** October 09, 2012, 07:52:26 pm »

These coins look like an overcleaned assortment of late Roman, Byzantine and more modern coins.

jorge c2 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 09, 2012, 08:07:42 pm »

thank you very much
I have plenty more were discovered in Beja Portugal and are very earth'll try to clean with a brush
'll clean careful to not spoil
Jorge

Howard Cole · « **Reply #3 on:** October 10, 2012, 01:59:54 pm »

Jorge,

You are more likely to get a response if you only post one coin per posting.

Dino · « **Reply #4 on:** October 10, 2012, 05:52:36 pm »

The one on the bottom right purports to be a New Hampshire Halfpenny from 1776

Obverse: Pine tree with 1776 divided by trunk
Reverse: AMERICAN LIBERTY around border. WM at center

If it's real, it would be fairly valuable. Also very very very rare.

There are, however, lots and lots and lots and lots of replicas floating around. Yours looks like it has a big blob where the word "COPY" would typically be stamped.

I'd say that it would be just about impossible for one of those to appear in a hoard of relatively low grade, low value Byzantine and Roman coins....

It is not totally impossibe, however. A citizen of New Hampshire, who was also an anceint coin collector, could have taken a vacation to Portugal shortly after America declared its independence. In his pockets, the collector had his collection - fearing it would be confiscated by the British - and some newly minted New Hampshire spare change for spending money. While hiking in Portugal he was attached and eaten by a small pack of Portugese genets. Alas, the then newly minted halfpenny fell to the ground (with the other coins that happened to be over 1000 older than the halfpenny) or were eaten and eventually "passed" by a genet.

Hundreds of years later, the coins were dug up in Beja, Portugal.

Alternatively, the coin is just fake. I'm guessing fake.

Photo of replica below:

Dino · « **Reply #5 on:** October 10, 2012, 06:02:51 pm »

Additional info in NH halfpenny:

Quote

On June 28 the New Hampshire legislature passed an act stating a copper coin would be made in the colony having a pine tree and the motto AMERICAN LIBERTY on one side and a harp design with the date 1776 on the other. The copper was to weigh five pennyweight and ten grains, that is 130 grains. It would be distributed by the Treasury in quantities not exceeding £1000 in exchange for local paper currency at the rate of three coppers for two pence lawful money, which equaled the standard Massachusetts rate of 18 coppers per shilling. (the act, which was not clearly written, is found in Crosby, p. 176) Lawful money refers to the colony's paper currency, which was issued at the proclamation rate (6s to the Spanish American dollar). It has been suggested the harp design was probably based on the then current $7 continental currency bill which carried a Latin motto that can be translated as "The larger (harp strings) are harmonious with the small," -- a clear allusion to the union of the smaller and larger colonies.

At lease five variations of the New Hampshire coin are known, two of which carry the date 1776 on the obverse and the initials W. M. on the reverse. Some of these pieces may be unique while others are found in only a few examples. Examples of the varieties are plated in Breen, the Garrett Collection Sale and the Norweb Collection sale as cited in the bibliography below. It should be noted several modern reproductions of these coins exist. The pieces with the W.M. initials are now thought to be of doubtful origin and have been removed from the current edition (51st 1998) of R.S. Yeoman, A Guide Book of United States Coins,p. 38. In 1996 Dan Freidus explained one variety had been fabricated by C. Wyllys Betts in the early 1860's. That variety has an obverse containing a tree with the legend AMERICAN LIBERTY and a reverse with a harp. Freidus has illustrated an example of the coin as well as the dies from which it was made. The authenticity of the other pieces have also been questioned; currently there is no consensus on which, if any, may be authentic. It is generally thought Moulton prepared some cast patterns but the coin never went into production.

So.... More evidence that yours is a fake.

jorge c2 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 10, 2012, 07:02:52 pm »

thank dino
this surely is not the copper with the magnifying glass I do not see the word copies the material which is made in my opinion seems to lead or other similar material but never copper
Obrigado