Modern Proof Maria Theresa Thaler?

IMHO, I think an error coin cannot be regarded as a variety because the number of coins produced for this type must be very less so it is meaningless to make a classification of it.

autrokiwi, your coin is awesome, it must be very expensive for the reason of rarity. I think your coin was from a die at the same time frame of my MTT and Archraz's MTT because the difference between all the three MTT is very small. The font of your MTT is close to Archraz's so maybe your coin was struck first and was recognized as an error, Archraz's coin was then struck after the die amendment. My coin may be struck before or after you and Archraz's. Probably, all three are belonged to same catagory.

autroskiwi, can you tell me the number of dots in the eagle's beak?

austrokiwi- This is proving to be a very interesting thread that is really getting me more and more into this wonderful coin series.

I do have another question about modern MTTs. Nowadays these coins are still sold and produced by the Austrian Mint, but are these mainly just tourist pieces that are available directly from the mint, or are they still produced as trade bullion? Do they still circulate anywhere on earth as a part of daily transactions?

Clearly the proof at 1980s MTT are struck for souvenir with some premium above silver price, I suppose. Remember 1980 is the 200 anniversaries of Maria Theresia's death.

If I understand you correctly I am unfortunately going to recount a discussion I had a few years ago with another MTT collector. That collector thought you could define differences in the edge to face orientation of MTT unfortunately for most of the last 200+ years the edge is struck on the blank and then the blanks are loaded into the Actual minting press as a result the edge orientation ends up being random. The only exception to this rule is pre 1930s when Vienna mint used a minting technique that saw all three sides struck at once. I also understand that yours is more likely pre 1960s simply because the edge is so well formed (Not as good as the 19th century but better than post 1960. Post 1960 coins have heavy blurred edges I suspect that the post 1960s strikes were struck in a collar and that is the cause of the blurring:

Now I have a question that hopefully someone can help with. Sometime in the last 2-3 years I read an article about the US gold confiscation and the allowance for ownership by collectors. I recall the article noted that gold reproductions(ie: restrikes) of earlier European gold coins were specifically banned by US customs ( or was it secret service) circa 1935. I gained the impression that to get round the gold ownership ban some collectors had been importing European gold restrikes ( such as Netherlands Ducats, Austrian 1 and 4 Ducats etc. However I noted the wording of the ban was that it was gold copies of gold coins what the rule didn't ban was the importation of gold copies of earlier dated silver coins. Can any one recall reading that article and can refer me to it ( May have been World coins, the numismatist, or KP publications news letter? The reason I ask is in 1937 in Switzerland 300 Gold Abschlag ( there is no comparable English Word) of MTT were produced for the American market. I think many of you will see the importance of the question as it would be nice to confirm the gold Abschlag was a gold ownership ban avoidance method.
The coins were 900 standard gold, 42mm and weighed 73.04 grams. Here is low res photos of the one I own:








The coins were supposed to have the standard MTT edge but early on in the minting run the edging equipment failed so most of the mintage has a blank edge. Mine has the blank edge. Its a heavy impressive lump of metal!!

It would be brilliant if someone knows which article I am referring to.

Austrokiwi, if it's a specific article you're seeking try the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. They have a magazine, The E-Sylum which reaches a world wide audience of numismatic bibliophiles, mostly with very long memories.
https://archives.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

ON the london mint coin. I am still wanting to Assess a group of these with XRF. Your coin looks like a true london mint strike except the Letter M is thick and heavy almost like that expected on an Indian minted MTT ( Used London mint dies) As yet I have suspicions about the identifiers but am not satisfied the the Currently accepted ones ( hence XRF). With the edges All I can say is the top coin is most likely older than the second. The Heavy bold and blurred letters on the bottom coin are typical of post 1960s strikes. Post 2000 strikes are even worse!!!

I can understand the surprise. I have to admit that I know less about the MTT than when I started collecting the coin nearly 10 years ago! What I can say for sure is I know a lot more about what I don't know!!.

The most modern MTT in my collection should explain why I think the bottom coin is the more recent example. Its an edge error coin dating to 2003 - 2004. Some one in the Vienna mint installed one of the edge irons (dies) upside down.

In the photo below you can see the tail end of CLEMENTIA if you were able to see more of the edge to the right the next script you would see would be an upside down "ET" Normally you would expect to see a right side up "JUSTITIA" Of course the error is interesting but more importantly; as this error can be narrowed down to a couple of years it is a very good reference coin.

The coin is actually a very high MS grade but the edge is abysmal!.....not from wear but rather that is how the edge came out of the mint. I suspect ( Because it would be very easy to confirm I haven't done so yet. Partly for the silly reason that I have been researching more interesting puzzles) that modern examples have been struck in a blank collar, this would see the coin expanding as it was struck and the edge detail would end up being squashed by the collar. I do know for sure that the Vienna mint strikes the edges first.



I hope the photo shows my logic. Generally the older a MS MTT is the better the edge definition and execution.

Compare with my London Mint MTT, I agree with the first coin is also a London Mint spceimen (1936-61).