What is this old coin?

[Nugget]

I found it this morning about 6" down next to a ginormous tree. It's pretty worn and at this stage I can't make out any markings.

It's approximately 33mm in diameter and 2mm in thickness. It also has a continuous slanted reeded edge all the way around, example (\\\\\\\\\\\\\\).

P.S. Sorry about the pic quality.

 

[Pete_The_Prospector]

Can't be a penny because our penny's are only 30.8mm in diameter and the edges are not reeded!!!! Can you see any marking at all?

 

[Nugget]

It's got a raised area which could be the shape of head but other than that I can't make anything else out. I may have to clean it up a little.

Got any suggestions for a non-destructive clean?

 

[Pete_The_Prospector]

For something that corroded I would give it blast using electrolysis in a light salt solution first. That would (might) bring out some detail in the coin.

 

[dave14110]

No could also destroy it. I've tried that method on old worthless ccoins & it not a good one to use. My suggestion would be a gentle clean in warm soap water after a soak for at least 12 hours. Then may be an ultrasonic cleaner but even this has to be done very carefully & on gentle cycle.

 

[Nugget]

I've got it soaking in warm soapy water. It's in pretty bad nick so I don't think it's going to clean up too well

 

[Pedro]

Hi Nugget, Almost certain it will be an english penny from about 1825 to ?, Go to coinsgb and you will be able to narrow it down. The site gives detailed information on each coin including the size and material it is made from. I have several pennies like that and it is really a shame the acids and minerals destroy the copper/bronze coins. But still they are great fun to find. Under several monarchs the pennies were 34mm then they went to 30mm from memory. My guess is your coin is 34mm.

 

[Nugget]

Hey thanks for the info Pedro, it could very well be 34mm. Yeah it a shame its unrecognisable from corrosion, I'll definitely check out coinsgb.

 

[user 81]

Hi Nugget,
Just recently I found a Penny, George III, Great Britain, 1807 34mm not far from singo it has the same edge that you have described. Hope this helps Nugget the penny is my profile photo

 

[Nugget]

That's a great find Blue55, unfortunately I don't think I'll ever know what mine is for sure, but at least now I have a couple of possibilities.

 

[Pedro]

Hi Nugget, Try puting some baking tray paper over the side where the monarch has their head and rub a lead pencil while keeping the pencil laying flat you will get an outline. Some of our early english monarchs had very distinctive heads, thats being polite. hopefully you will be able to identify the monarch and get an idea of what year it is,

 

[Lady Fossick]

looks like an old food token. I have a Melbourne one, used it for food instead or real cash in the good old days.

 

[madmax3022]

Did you ever find out what it was?

 

[Nugget]

It still remains a mystery but at least now I have a few ideas of what it could be.

 

[headbut]

Is it any cleaner , so you can see more detail ? . I have world coin catalogues from 1700's up, if older may be hard to ID

 

[the duck]

Soak it in olive oil for a month

 

[headbut]

Soak it in olive oil for a month

Has that ever worked for you Duck ?

I soaked some old roman coins in olive oil for 6 months & all I achieved was green oil

 

[Nugget]

I think the coin is just too far gone, I've tried cleaning it with no luck. I didn't try the olive oil method due to poor results on previous coins.

 

[Muttering]

I'd argue a trader's token depending on locality.

 

[Philski]

I think its a KG111 Penny Token minted in 1806 or 1807 at the Soho mint in London. Some had the same reeded edge you have nugget. They were 34mm and weighed 18.9 grams. are you able to weight it? if you still have it?

This unknown is very similar to yours but i think its a half penny token from the same Soho 1806-07 mintage
diameter 29 millimetres - Weight 9.29.8 grams,
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...in-slanted-edge-reeding-two-silver-items.html
It looks almost identical to yours

To clean Pennies. Try tomato sauce. it works remarkably well for copper and bronze coinage in poor condition.
If stubborn add a pinch of salt to the sauce, rinse and dry. takes from 5 min to a few hours depending on the condition, temp etc.

Disclaimer* if you can see a date, check before you clean.

Silver i soak in cloudy ammonia, then hit it with a wet sodium bicarb slurry, rinse and dry. I soak silver till they just start to turn the ammonia green. Dry sodium bicarbonate it will scratch the coin really badly. Post 1946 need a 1/4 as long in ammonia to start to bleed.

Silver thats just tarnished and in pretty good nick. boil water chuck a sheet of aluminum foil in stick the coins on top and sprinkle bicarb in it and hey presto shiny silver again, in a few seconds.

Kindest Regards
Phillip