What Coin Is This? Please Help Me! - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 2,602
paratrend New Member Ireland 16 Posts	Posted 03/30/2010 4:37 pm Hi, I'm new here so take it easy on me, I found this coin about 2 years ago whilst clearing an old ditch. Can anybody identify it for me? I have photographed it beside a current Uk pound, at some time somebody has cut away a lot of the coin. The thickness is approx 35mm. Many thanks. Report this Post to the Staff

Sap Moderator Australia 16857 Posts	Posted 03/30/2010 6:00 pm It's not British. This appears to be (or perhaps was) a Spanish 4 reales, dating from sometime in the 1600's - the first letter in the Spanish king's name is "P", so it's one of the king Philips, probably either III or IV. I call it a 4 reales because the "IIII" next to the shield would be the denomination mark, but a 4 reales ought to be much bigger than a 1 pound coin. They're not normally this regularly shaped, either - these crude "cob" coins are typically very irregular in shape. I suspect someone has indeed trimmed the edges of this coin, perhaps for a more aesthetic mounting into a piece of "pirate jewellery", like the items these people sell. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
paratrend New Member Ireland 16 Posts	Posted 03/31/2010 1:50 pm Thanks Sap, now that I know its spanish and a reales I've been "googling" it, and now I know what a "cob" is. Where I found it is about 1 mile inland from the sea, people here were typically very poor, especially in the 1600s, there was a famous battle here in 1690, some were French jacobites, maybe some were Spanish, they might have camped here before going into battle approx 10 miles away? Once again, many thanks.. Report this Post to the Staff
Libertad Pillar of the Community Canada 3692 Posts	Posted 03/31/2010 7:10 pm For sure that's a cob piece. Spanish, maybe Mexican or Peruvian. @Sap: yes, it does seem very regular.. is it possible that people would clip away at a coin to "cut corners" and save up scrap? BTW, what an amazing FIND! Did ya just look at the ground and there it was? Edited by Libertad 03/31/2010 7:11 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Sap Moderator Australia 16857 Posts	Posted 03/31/2010 8:09 pm Quote: yes, it does seem very regular.. is it possible that people would clip away at a coin to "cut corners" and save up scrap? I did consider the possibility that it had simply been clipped... or that someone had trimmed the coin down to match the weight of a British silver coin of the period. But for me, the decider was the regularity of the edges, and the consistent angles the clips have occurred at... almost like facets of a jewel, which leans me toward the aesthetic / jewellery theory. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis Report this Post to the Staff
petcatchris New Member United States 22 Posts	Posted 03/31/2010 9:56 pm It's probably a Phillip IV Mexico City One Real coin-and it was made that way Report this Post to the Staff
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