Please Help Me Identify This...

Thanks. Not contesting the fact that there might have been better methods. However, I really didn't think I'd find anything at all under the crud, so I didn't really worry all that much about it. At any rate, the photos don't do the piece justice. It's much prettier than it looks, even if it is a little deformed (came like that to me) and still a little encrusted. Still just curious about what it is... I don't have any other pieces that look anything like ti.

As Spence said, it is not actually a coin, but a "counting token". Known as "Rechenpfennig" in German, these pieces were used in all kinds of situations as substitutes for coins. Originally intended for use on "counting-boards" (kind of an economic abacus), they also found use as counters for card games and other forms of semi-legal gambling. The city of Nuremberg, in Germany, became one of the most prolific issuers of such tokens, with numerous rival family businesses in that city going into production in the 1500s to 1800s. You can read more about them in this article on the UK Detector Finds database website.

Yours is a variant of the "French Shield type", I believe. Obverse: French coat of arms, legend "LIB MICH ALS ICH DIH". Reverse: floreated cross, crowns and lys in corners, legend something like "N DAS SIN RECHEPFENING".