what is it?

[need answer]

I found that coin and I don't know if it's a real one. Can someone tell me what it is and from where. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jakk]

The lower right of the front image looks kind of like "1741", but I could be imagining it.

 

[Carol K]

Another one? Your the 3rd member that has posted one of these.

I don't think the other two threads were able to resolve what it is though.

Here's 1 of the threads, I'll see if I can find the other.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=13001

Here it is:

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=15445

By the way, welcome to the forum!

 

[Jakk]

Yeah. I spent about an hour on google looking that coin up and found those two threads plus about 3 other people on various websites asking but there has yet to be an answer. I know that someone suggested that they were Constantinople mints, so that could help you out a bit.

 

[Carol K]

I don't think it's a coin because it doesn't have a value on it, or a country.

Must be a token from something touristy and historical. But there isn't any advertising on it so what good would that do?

One was found in Virginia, one in Utah, and whereever "need answer" is from. What is significant about 1741?

need answer, where did you find it?

 

[sectshun8]

Man I searched all over, and my Google skills are to be envied. But other than about 7 total direct references from other pages, NO ANSWER. I personally like the Vitus Bering reference, but not sure how it fits in with these being scattered around VA?

 

[Jakk]

Well, I did find a pretty interesting fact about that "coin". If you flip it upside down, the "1741" looks identical a to the "1741" right side up.

 

[sectshun8]

Jakk, you saying that got me looking closer at the "date." The way the numbers are written, the 1, is clearly written in Arabic styling. Which in case what looks like a "7" would actually be a 6. The only problem is that the third number, the "4", arabic numbers don't have a character like that...

 

[Carol K]

If you flip it upside down, the "1741" looks identical a to the "1741" right side up.

Wow, you're right. But it really doesn't look like 1741 does it?

To me the portrait is funky, like it wasn't professionally done. Whoever saw a king that looks like that!??

Voriax suggested "some kind of play money or gaming token"

Rusty is in Henderson, Nevada(not Utah) Maybe found in Las Vegas?

Ace_Digger says, "I was out detecting last weekend in the historical village of Waterford, Virginia."
Ace_Digger is the one that said it was 1741, but I don't think it is now.

 

[Jakk]

Yeah, it does look weird, but if it is fake then it means that a lot of coin buffs have been stumped by nothing more than a cheap token. I visited many coin enthusiast sites int he search for an answer and the closest I got was that it was from Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire, which was the capital from 1453–1922, so the coin date would make sense.

 

[sectshun8]

Let's say the coin WAS that old. Have you noticed the impeccable condition all of the finds are in? The don't look hardly aged at all...

 

[Carol K]

The don't look hardly aged at all

I think that's the way bronze is though. It doesn't change much with age.

There still isn't a denomination... so that's a mystery.

 

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

My Input

All Of The Finds Look Identical As Far As Condition That I Saw.it Looks Like Some Sort Of Reproduction To Me.that Was My First Thought.i Could Be Very Wrong As Foreign Coinage Is Not My Expertise

 

[Carol K]

I'm beginning to think sectshun8 is right. The 1741 is not numbers at all, but symbols.. More like "one... seven... upside down seven... one." You can clearly see the "ones" are not really ones, and the sevens are split in the center, which would make them not sevens, but a symbol.

If they are a coin from Constantinople, they have no business being in the ground in the USA. And if they are made from bronze, that not an easy process is it? Who would go through the trouble of making a token or gaming piece out of bronze? They would use some junk metal.

 

[Voriax]

Who would go through the trouble of making a token or gaming piece out of bronze? They would use some junk metal.

I browsed the boardgamegeek web page for quite a while and some games actually have quite nice metal coins/tokens in them. Also several companies offer all kinds of replica and fantasy coins. Also they offer metal replicas of the original cardboard/plastic tokens for certain games.

Voriax

 

[Carol K]

How about Marti Gras token? That would be an event that would draw people from all over the US... to be lost all over the US.

 

[need answer]

I'm from Quebec in Canada, so if it's something from an amusement place it's way far from where it should be.

 

[Carol K]

How big is this token? Like the size of a quarter or half dollar?

 

[Ace_Digger]

Hey all...

Its roughly the size of a quarter!
I have been reading the replies with interest. The more I look at those numbers, it is definitely appearing to be more of a symbol than date. So maybe 1741 is not it. Just what it looked like to me.
I am still dumbfounded by it. If it is from Constantinople then it is definitely a long way from home...it is bronze from what I can tell, no magnet will stick to it. It is actually about the same weight as a quarter.
I know of what may be one other one found, not sure where, but the description I read sounds exactly like this one. I will try to find the link to the forum I read it on.
Why would these things just start appearing across the US and now, Canada?
Very interesting. If anyone comes up with anything, please let me know...like I said I am still dumbfounded by this thing!

 

[Krom]

Looks Japanese to me... but I'm way up here in Maine, so...