A Tale of Two Batzen - 1 Batz Coins - Sitten

[CameronK]

I recently picked up these two coins identified to me as, 1 Batz, Sitten, 1710.

I've found this reference:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces23527.html

One is medal aligned, the other is coin aligned, and I don't see any information on varieties. Can someone share opinions about them?

The lighter-colored one is 2.2 g, 24 mm. The darker one is 1.6 g, 23-25 mm (as it is oval).

Thank you for the review & opinions!

[Figleaf]

These coins were probably screwed. There were screw presses where the dies could be mounted in only two or four positions, but in many others, especially those used for private minting and for the smallest mints, they could end up in any position. I would assume that in those days, there was no officially approved and enforced die rotation, therefore die rotation is meaningless. That does not mean you as a collector cannot pay attention to die rotation, but it does mean there is no historical information in the die rotation.

The upper coin was found to be too heavy, so it got a stroke of the file, ending up at 2.2 grams, the same as the weight reported on Numista. The lower coin may have been an end-of-batch product: as the metal in a batch ran out, mint workers scraped out the bucket to make the last flan. They were one drop short, but shrugged. Meanwhile, the metal had cooled too much, so that when the little cone of metal was flattened, it expanded unevenly, producing an oval, lightweight specimen.

Its misfortunes were not over. When it came into the hands of a dealer, it was cleaned, losing its patina. Keep it exposed to polluted air for half a century or so and its colour will be the same as the other one.

For coins of this age, "variety" has a different meaning.

Peter

[CameronK]

Thank you so much for the detailed explanation. Very interesting about the die rotation & shaving/ filing as well.