Can you identify this coin?

[CorrodedSilver]

I bought a coin on Ebay but have no idea what country it is from. The seller says it is copper but I think it is silver (it is black). It is a small coin, 18 millimeters in diameter. It is supposed to be German/Austria but I can't find it anywhere. The year is 1752. Can anyone tell me what country or state it is from?

 

OK, this is my first post, if there are no pictures showing up then I am not sure how to download pictures yet. Anyone can help me here too is greatly appreciated.

[JKK]

If you can't get pics to work, don't feel bad. I never have in however many years I have been on here. The function as presented by the board simply does not work for me.

 

The next step is to host the pics (please take real sharp clear ones) on an external site and add the links to your posts. A number of us here have the resources to help you figure out what it is, if we can see the images. German states stuff is always fun because there were a lot of little duchies and principalities and electorates, fun challenge for research.

[comicdonna]

You can either get a free or paid account with:

 

www.photobucket.com

 

After you upload your pics there, you can copy and paste the proper code in your post.

[CorrodedSilver]

Thanks for the info, after working with Photobucket for an hour I figured it out. Here are the pictures of obverse and reverse. Any ideas what country or state they came from?

 

 

 

[michael]

Austria Ducat (Counterfeit) 1752

 

Apparently it was not that long ago that Reader's Digest magazine ran a promotion and produced a bunch of replica coins that look like Austrian gold ducats. Most have a date of 1752.

 

What IS seen with increasing frequency is a silver like replica which has a yellow gold plating added to it, designed to deceive. To the inexperienced it appears to be a `gold' coin (which of course it isn't). (Cited from: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/austrian-gold-coin-1752.867/)

 

 

 

[JKK]

That's what threw me at first, Michael. It looked fake and it looked like an Austrian ducat, but no logical reason anyone would fake it (to my mind) in a color besides gold.

[michael]

jkk thank you!! you hit the nail on the head as i thought the same thing too!

 

 

 

in gold this coin is extremely rare so i thought

 

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

 

[CorrodedSilver]

Thanks Michael and JKK, you guys rock! Good to know it is a fake, now in the process of getting my money refunded. Will see what happens.

[JKK]

Good luck there; you're on the right track. To think it were authentic, one would have to overlook some key tells:

 

1) The thing just doesn't look like mintage of the age. Too clean in some ways, especially on the head detail, and yet too coarsely engraved. It looks uncirculated, which can definitely be the case with a coin from the 1750s, but a real one wouldn't look like that, I do not think.

 

2) Only thing that fits the full description should be gold, which this is visibly not. Since gold doesn't corrode to speak of, even worn gold still looks pretty yellow.

 

3) A quick search turns up the sort of discussion of fakery that Michael found. Antennae pop up like a teenage *spoon* in a yoga class.

 

4) Not sure what you paid for it, but my 2010 Krause lists a real one for $80 in VG. That one, if gold and genuine, lists for $850 in MS in the same catalog. Gold content is .1106 oz. At today's price, that would be $132.63 for metal alone. Of course, my guide is quite out of date, but the metal content and today's math are not. If the price looked way out of line, there would probably be a reason. Just thought that info would be useful, since I doubt you paid a price that would reflect the gold content (and evidently the seller did not claim such a thing, so probably not).

 

It's possible that the seller just didn't have any idea what he had. If that seller doesn't sell a lot of non-US coins, I suppose it could be an honest mistake. If he does, then he has no excuse, and it suggests dishonesty. If he is an ANA member, from what I understand, he's not supposed to trade in counterfeits even if he labels them clearly as such.

[CorrodedSilver]

I searched and searched to find out what coin it was but to no avail. It's starting price was $23.00 on Ebay so I took a chance, no one else had bid on it. When I received it in the mail it was blackish in color, his pictures showed a copper color. That was my first red flag. Then I submitted the info to you guys and immediately you figured out what it was.

 

I have contacted the seller and he said he will give me a full refund plus shipping costs. He also said I could keep the coin since it is a fake. Not sure what I am going to do with it. Anybody want it?

 

Thanks again for helping me out on this one.

[michael]

your most welcome

 

and please......................................................

 

 

 

 

destroy it so no one else gets hoodwinked

 

 

[JKK]

I'm just glad the seller's response was so affirmative. If it were mine, I would put it in a flip and label it as a counterfeit, and keep it as an example.