Need help to identify a coin

I've had this coin for decades, it was given to me by my then brother-in-law who found it in the local river while fishing. It's the only coin I have which is unidentified to date, I keep forgetting about it. It lives in a small box with 17th century tokens which doesn't get opened too often as I don't collect them.

I've taken a few shots of it next to a US dime for comparison. I think it's bronze but am prepared to be told it's copper. Any help would be appreciated.

It's copper.

Looks like a French Indian piece.

Цитата: SmartOneKgIt's copper.

Looks like a French Indian piece.

I've never seen one. Do you mean Indian from the sub-continent or Native Americans? I always thought that the latter was pretty much a bartering economy.

I have always thought it was a pre Roman British coin. I spent a good few hours browsing catlogs some years back and while it looked similar to many of the listings I was never able to find a good match.

A little more about the provenance - the river which it was found in is the Irwell which runs through much of the Pennines in the North of England. There is plenty of evidence that the area was settled from at least the Bronze Age. The story about finding it while fishing however..... well it's fishy. It only occured to me many years later that the Irwell in those days was a place where you might catch anything from tetanus to cholera but not a fish. I suspect my ex brother in law was not telling me the entire story.

Цитата: pnightingaleA little more about the provenance - the river which it was found in is the Irwell which runs through much of the Pennines in the North of England. There is plenty of evidence that the area was settled from at least the Bronze Age. The story about finding it while fishing however..... well it's fishy. It only occured to me many years later that the Irwell in those days was a place where you might catch anything from tetanus to cholera but not a fish. I suspect my ex brother in law was not telling me the entire story.

That is hillarious. It is fishy, now isn't it.

I'd suggest looking further into that, or await someone else's reply.

France used to occupy very small portions of the sub-continent India. Their coins, unlike the Mughal Empire coins or the British coins, had crude pictures of various subjects such as roosters.

Your evidence tells a lot. I don't know much about ancients, and I'm sure someone definetly knows more than I do.

Score one to Kenneth.

It's a Paisa from pre colonial India. The date and exact issuing authority are still unknown, until coinage was standardised by the Honourable East India Company each of the Princely States issued their own coinage.

I've managed to find an exact match for the reverse (?) in a catalog of Indian Princely States coins. Unfortunately the dealer didn't know much about it either and simply listed it as an "ancient Indian coin".

Well done young feller, either an inspired guess or some pretty savvy research placed it just about right.

Who would have thought that it would turn up on a river bank in an obscure English mill town some 3 or 4 hundred years later!

 well, you brits have been all around the world

Thanks Philip!

It was a guess sorta. Usually I am asked about identifying Thai, Taiwanese, or Japanese coins... almost always. Coins with Arabic inscriptions are not my specialty.

So Philip, you found it in a catalogue? If you could upload an image of it I can help list the coin.

Hey James, the Brits haven't done much in South America. Except the little Falkland Islands.

Цитата: SmartOneKgHey James, the Brits haven't done much in South America. Except the little Falkland Islands.

You think?

Try visiting Patagonia! It's Wales away from the valleys!

Matt

Цитата: SmartOneKgThanks Philip!

It was a guess sorta. Usually I am asked about identifying Thai, Taiwanese, or Japanese coins... almost always. Coins with Arabic inscriptions are not my specialty.

So Philip, you found it in a catalogue? If you could upload an image of it I can help list the coin.

Hey James, the Brits haven't done much in South America. Except the little Falkland Islands.

Argentina has a large English community complete with polo club and a half way decent rugby team. I'm told that it's a beautiful country with a healthy climate too.

Kenneth, I've not been able to find the catalogue again but I'm pretty sure I followed a link from here : http://www.maruphilaque.com/all_items.asp?igcd=143&igcd2=8&c=50
 
If you look at the first picture I posted, it's correct alignement would be 45 degrees clockwise. The central motif can then be identified, it's like a studded archway with a key inside it. (Think Lord of the Rings - "Speak Friend and Enter") Once you have that as a reference point then the design begins to fall into place.

That side was an exact match and the coin pictured was a full strike whereas mine is off centre. I have to say that my coin has much more "eye appeal" than many of the ones I've seen while searching, some of them quite expensive too. The other side had a completely different design though.  I'm thinking it may be from Assam as I know I was looking at coins from that region when I got the match although I may have moved on from there by then.

So close now, I love a good challenge and identifying this coin would give me a great deal of personal satisfaction. (Well, it would after 40 years right?)

I was going to FedEx you a 12 pack of Corona but then I realised it would be no good to you for a few years so I drank it for you. Cheers mate! I'm going to send you a picture of a really nice stamp I picked up this morning. I bought it because it was in a slab so I probably paid too much but it's a beauty.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend in their various corners of the world. I'm off to investigate a really cool coin set I found while image searching.

Peace,

Phil

Makes sense, Philip.

There is also a very large German population in Argentina as well. There are also many Japanese in Brazil and Peru. They don't know what they're missing when they moved out of Japan!

Argentina seems beautiful. Heh. Half way decent. That's okay decency, I guess.

I'll look through that catalogue. I was sure it wasn't Roman because Roman coins usually have a head of the emperor on the obverse. Indian coins have a fun inscripion on both sides, with or without Arabic.

Uhh okay. You know the design more than I do. Your coin, your knowledge! Must have some value, not to mention it has not corroded either.

Coins that are hard to identify are not always fun! Just recently I bought and recieved a 9 Mace from China, 46mm! Wasn't hard to identify, but I couldn't find it in the catalogue. Mace refers to silver. $3. And another $3 on counterfeit silver coins from China. They're definetly silver, but they're obviously fake. I'll try to sell them on eBay and try to get double back.

12 pack of Corona? Haha. I'd rather drink champagne or red wine in a few years. Cheers! Thank goodness I'm not like other guys who brag about drinking under age "by accident." What liars! They say, "Oh, it tasted pretty good, like apple juice." Shut up guys! No alcohol is sweet.

Show me the stamp by private message. I'll see if it was worth the money. I bought this unused stamp from China, unused, one cent, free shipping! That is definetly worth the money.

I am having a great weekend, thank you Philip. And thank you Numista for making my life full.