Counter stamped 2 Sols and more!

[rsilva02667]

I had a great hunt yesterday at a permission I have that’s been hit pretty hard over the years. I put the nox in all metal mode and picked the iffy signals out of an iron patch I found. The iffy signals did not disappoint! The counter stamp on the thin copper coin threw me off at first and I thought it was just another bazinga, until I got home. The coin turns out to be a 1759 French 2 Sols! This is my second counter-stamped coin and oldest! Any info on the stamp would be great! Where can I find a chart to try to ID it? Also found a silver necklace with a gold bezel, a shoe buckle fragment, small buckle and a flat button along with the usual junk. Thanks for looking and happy hunting!!

 

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[rsilva02667]

Nice pendant. The coin is copied from a medieval ‘florin’. The city state of Florence, Italy struck these from 1252-1533 in gold, known as the ‘fiorino d’oro’, but there was a less common lower denomination silver issue known as the fiorino d'argento (also called the ‘grosso’).

View attachment 1894402 View attachment 1894403

The above are only typical example designs for these coin (florin and grosso respectively) but there are hundreds of variations… both Florentine and, by the 14th Century, from about 150 city states and authorities. Florence was a major commercial centre and its coinage was widely accepted throughout Europe, leading to other countries (including France. the Netherlands, Germany and Hungary) adopting similar designs and the florin becoming one of the most popular denominations for trading coins.

Yours has the typical ‘John the Baptist’ reverse since he was the patron Saint of the city, and a reverse legend ‘S [Saint] IOANNES [John] B [Baptist]’ with word ‘IOA/NNES’ interrupted by his feet. The symbol to the left of his head is a hammer, which was a mint master mark used in Florence between 1252-1291.

The obverse has the lily as the emblem of the city, but I can’t read the legend from your pictures. Usually it will be ‘FLOR/ENTIA’ (again with the word interrupted by the design).

I’ll leave that to you and Google if you want to try and type it more precisely. There will still be dozens or possibilities and, for replicas/copies, these are sometimes generic fantasies for which no exact medieval counterpart actually exists. My guess would be that, since yours represents a ‘worn’ coin, it probably was cast from the real thing… unlike this one, for example:

View attachment 1894404

Frequently the modern pendants were produced in Italy for good luck and, even though the original was a gold coin, the replicas are usually silver. It has long been a Florentine tradition to give a florin on occasions such as the birth of a child, with the wish: “a florin today for a thousand florins tomorrow”.

Wow! This is exactly why I post to this awesome group. Thank you so much for the knowledge!

 

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[Argentium]

I have a question for a couple of the respondents
to this post .. Red Coat's post is reprinted (quoted) in it's entirety - I wonder if giving a like to
the original response would suffice ? Perhaps it would be a bit less cumbersome than reprinting the entire long post - just curious ?

 

[rsilva02667]

Agentium- the platform that I use “tap a talk” shows the quote abbreviated. I’ve just always seen the method of quoting people as a good way to respond to them

 

[Hunk-a-lead]

awesome finds, thanks

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Very nice !

 

[Red-Coat]

.. Red Coat's post is reprinted (quoted) in it's entirety...

Yes, I agree it's a bit cumbersome. Perhaps people don't realise that when you use the 'Quote' button, you can edit the quoted text, as I have in quoting you (and/or edit out any pictures). Sometimes you need to make it clear to whom you are responding but there's no need to quote their post in its entirety. Editing is also a good way to respond to part of someone's post if they are showing multiple items or have multiple questions.

 

[Argentium]

Red-Coat, I would like to give you high praise for your dedication to research , and helping people learn about their finds -Outstanding !

 

[jewelerguy]

good stuff!