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 Replies: 25 / Views: 2,346 |
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Pillar of the Community
Singapore
631 Posts |
Love that head-dress, she herself would make a very nice design for a coin.
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
24885 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
63 Posts |
Edited by DrPeper23
03/07/2023 1:49 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7958 Posts |
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Valued Member
 United States
277 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
277 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
63 Posts |
So I did some digging into the coins used in Senegal at the time, and besides French coins, cause French colony, apparently a good amount of coins from neighboring Gambia, which was an English colony. So my new guess is some large silver Edward VII coin such as the Crown or Florin https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces4716.html[url] |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7292 Posts |
Quote:
Could the image above be inverted? If this was taken with a box camera the picture would have been inverted. So you maybe right. |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5177 Posts |
FWIW, I found a better-resolution version of the pic online, blew it up to 5x in my browser, took a screenshot of the result, and cropped (and slightly resized) the screenshot in the CCF image optimizer. The pic is very blurry, but it might help a little regardless...  For now I don't think I can entirely rule out Edward VII, but mostly only because all the other options are worse. [EDIT: currently looking through 56 pages of Numista results for 25-45 mm silver coins from 1800-1915, trying to find anything with a similar beard and a similar bust termination. None so far but I've barely started.] [EDIT 2: so far the best match, by some margin, is Leopold II of Belgium. But I'm only at page 4. I'll post other plausible matches as I go.] Edited by january1may
03/08/2023 11:29 am
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Valued Member
United States
277 Posts |
@january1may Thanks for blowing up the image! That really helps in looking at the finer details in the coin  Maybe this has just been one big wild goose chase, and that the coin in the picture is this one:  I have read that Senegal does have a long history of trading with France, so perhaps a French coin is most likely what the coin is. |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5177 Posts |
All the (near-)matches I found on those 56 pages, excluding patterns and other similarly extremely rare types... German States - many, all not quite there but similar (mostly scarce small-state issues from the 1890s and later - not the kind of stuff likely to end up in Senegal circa 1910) - Friedrich I of Baden, 5 mark (there's also a 2 mark but the head seems too far from the edge there) - Ludwig V of Hesse, 5 mark (there's a bunch of other types but none are very common) - Leopold IV of Lippe, 3 mark (also 2 mark, both very scarce, and both not very close) - Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 2 mark (not that close TBH) - Heinrich XIV of Reuss-Schleiz, 1 vereinsthaler (also 2 mark; the nose is off, I think) - Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 2 thaler (very close in shape, but one of the rarest options listed) - Bernhard II of Saxe-Meiningen, 2 gulden (also close but also rare) - Albrecht Georg of Schaumburg-Lippe, 3 mark (also 2 and 5 mark, much rarer) - Karl Gunther of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, 2 mark (also 3 and 5 mark) - Karl I of Württemberg, 1 vereinsthaler (several types, all scarce) - Wilhelm II of Württemberg, 5 mark (also 2 mark) Non-German: - the aforementioned Leopold II, in Belgium and Congo Free State, 2 and 5 francs - Napoleon III, 2 francs (the far more common 5 francs is way off on the bust termination) - Edward VII, 1 rupee for India, florin and crown for UK - Vittorio Emanuele II, 5 lire #1, 5 lire #2, also 2 lire, one of the closest options so far - Oscar II of Norway, 2 kroner (not very close TBH) - Carol II of Romania, 5 lei (also not that close) FWIW I still think it's probably Leopold II, but I'm no good at portraits and there are too many other options. |
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Valued Member
Romania
130 Posts |
Hi all of you & mostly january1may! Please think about these: 1) Senegal was always a French colony. So, it is most likely to search for a match with a silver coin of France, instead of looking at faraway countries (for Senegal of those times), like German States, Denmark(!?), Norway (!?), Great Britain, Mexico, India (!?) etc. 2) The closest head SHAPE + BEARD are for, as I already said previously, the silver 5 francs 1852 of the prince-president Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (future emperor Napoleon III). 3) On the coin, the head faces left, on the necklace, it faces right (the oposite way). This can be only explained by a mirror "trick" the photo was taken , with the 1910 technique. 4) The king Carol II of Romania never had 5 Lei silver coins. Different types of large, silver 5 Lei coins were only struck under Carol I, the great-uncle of Carol II 5) This is not the beard of Leopold II, king of Belgium Andi  Edited by Andi10
03/08/2023 7:01 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7958 Posts |
Quite a mystery!
I want to believe Louis Napoleon because I agree with andi that France is the most likely choice. But the neck truncation is not correct, and the bust of Louis would occupy more space.
So maybe we refer to Sherlock Holmes: when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
@j1m has pointed out the choices which don't seem possible for many different reasons. So, maybe it is not a coin at all, but a medal of some kind?
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Valued Member
United States
63 Posts |
The reason I looked at Great Britain, and by extension India, is because while yes Senegal was a French colony they also did a fair amount of trade with GB, with Gambia being right there. So GB isn't really that far out. Though do agree about the German state coins
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
25457 Posts |
It could be a Napoleon 5 Francs, but the beard does not match. But the same goes with all of the other suggestions. Perhaps it has been altered or damaged? Here is my 1811 5 Francs - 37mm diameter. However, the lower neck of the bust does not really match.  Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Replies: 25 / Views: 2,346 |
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First Page
Posted 03/06/2023 11:45 pm
