ID Help needed....

[Bill W.]

I was wondering if anyone could ID this coin? The mark on the upper right of the face looks like a scratch in person. It's not hair... It's the size of a large cent. I found it in farm field where an old church and school used to be. The earliest records I can find have the church there in 1841. The property was bought prior to 1812. Anyways... any help is GREATLY appreciated. On the back it looks like a crown at the top... the lower part resembles an anchor or shield under certain lighting. Thanks!

-Bill

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[jimb]

The crown on the back looks like, not saying it is, but could be one of two different coins I have pictured in my book. If you could find writting on the front, it would help.
The first coin in the book with a crown was the 1723 Rosa Americana Penny or maybe it might be a 1773 Virginia Penny. Not saying it is, but the crown looks very close to the early one. A lot of history behind these coins. Virginia was the first Colonial government to legally authorize coinage. Good luck, cool find if it is!

jimb

 

[Bill W.]

Thank jimb but the bust is facing the opposite direction... I've found pretty similar British coins but nothing quite like it. But, if it's like some of the early Colonial coppers the bust can be facing left or right depending on the variety. Thanks for your input.

-Bill

 

[Chris/MA]

Bill, I believe it's a a "North Wales Halfpenny"
It's on page 68 of the "Red Book" coin guide, at least in the 2005 version.
Minted 1795, but no date was put on the coin itself.
See pictures at:
http://www.coinfacts.com/colonial_coins/washingtonia/north_wales_halfpenny.htm
The lower part on the reverse (below the crown) is a harp. The vertical bars are strings. The harp being a traditionally irish thing.

According to the book, there are 3 basic varieties. Here they are with approx red book values for each in Good-4 condition (obviusly what red book says they're worth and what somebody will actually pay are two very different things..not that you'd want to sell it anyway)
1. Plain edge, red books at $100 in good.
2. Lettered edge, red books at $500 in good. Not sure what the edge lettering inscription should be. Nothing I looked up mentioned it.
3. Two stars at each side of harp (normal version has one star at each side of bottom of harp), red books at $1000 in good.

There's also a southampton halpenny token that has the north wales harp reverse, but a different obverse that says S. BEVOIS. That's not your item though, because the bust on that faces the opposite way.

Either way, a neat find.

 

[Don in SJ]

A more common coin that would be found than some of the others with the crown and harp. Very hard to say with 100% certainty, but from the photo, if it were my find it would be getting cleaned a bit more (no big value to it) and I would look for the date at the lower right of the harp,, last two digits could be there, the first two on the left side will be 17, so that is a no brainer.

I would be marking the coin as I see it now as a 1736-1755 King George II IrishHalfpence. (Note: not made in all the years in that time frame)

See:
http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/Br-IrishCopper.intro.html

Don

 

[Chris/MA]

On second thought, Don may very well be right about it being a george II irish halfpence.

The shape of the bottom of the bust matches that very well, see photos of one on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/George-II-Irish-Halfpenny-1760_W0QQitemZ330109753582QQihZ014QQcategoryZ528QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I can't tell from the picture for sure, but the way for you to tell the 2 apart is:
1. The north wales one will have stars to the left and right of the harp, while the george II one will have the left and right half of the date, like: 17 <bottom of harp> 46 (just using 1746 as an example)
2. The north wales one will have the inscription "NORTH WALES" to the left and right sides of the top of the crown. "NORTH" on the left, "WALES" on the right. The george II will have "HIBERNIA" wrapping around the top of the crown. (the north wales has no lettering directly above the crown, while the george II does)

Clean it up a bit, and between these two details you ought to be able to tell which it is. Good luck.

 

[Bill W.]

Thanks Don!!! It's greatly appreciated. I looked for quite awhile for an ID. I kind of figured it was either foreign or a token of some sort. It does indeed look to be a King George II Irish Halfpence. Judging from the bottom of the bust it looks to be a Type 4 - Older Bust from 1760. That eclipses my oldest coin by 26 years... Here's the web page I am making the judgement on the year from...

http://www.irishcoinage.com/MILL3CAT.HTM

Thanks ALOT! I actually thought you might be the one to ID the coin... especially if it was old...

-Bill

 

[Bill W.]

Thanks for your help Chris! It does look to be a King George II Irish Halfpence... 1760 to be exact. Read my post to Don about how I know... That eclipses my oldest find by 26 years... Thanks alot!

-Bill

 

[Chris/MA]

Yeah, I would concur, it looks like a type 4 bust.
That irishcoinage site is pretty good. I ended up looking on there last year to find out about a 1723 hibernia I found.

 

[John - Maryland]

See: http://www.irishcoinage.com/J00089.HTM

 

[Bill W.]

Thanks for the link John!

-Bill