Small silver coin ,looks medieval or much earlier

[capnbirdseye]

Another unreadable coin exposed after treatment, I think I read MAXIMUS? or similar, not sure which way up it goes, I thought one side had Arabic at first but I think it's ornamentation or whatever


   very lightweight  0.57g     AR15   fairly sure it's silver or otherwise billon

[redwine]

I'll start the ball rolling
Burgundy springs to mind.  Well actually Bordeaux does but it's a little too early

O: Fleur de Lys (TLHC)
R: Shield perhaps
Can't make out MAXIMUS?

[FosseWay]

Wild guess, but I was wondering whether the right-hand image should be rotated 90 degrees anticlockwise. There is a feature in the middle which looks like a small shield, which would be the right way up if rotated thus.

I see where you can see MAXIMUS, though I'm more confident about the MAXI than the MUS. I think the next section of the text (i.e. at about 3 o'clock on the left-hand pic) is • REX • R, though as 'rex' must be the single most common word on medieval European coins that's not going to advance attribution much!

[capnbirdseye]

Thank you guys, here is the coin the right way up 

[redwine]

This is the coat of arms I was thinking about, thinking obverse
http://www.numishop.com/fiche-bfe_257388-mo_feo-1-BOURGOGNE_DUCHE_DE_BOURGOGNE_CHARLES_LE_TEMERAIRE_Engrogne_n_d_.html

[Figleaf]

I think this is the coin that inspired your piece. Quarter gros 1434-1467 in the name of Philip the good, duke of Burgundy, Vanhoudt H6.

However, the legends on both sides are wrong and letters are shaped wrongly also. Compare for instance the M on your piece with the Ms in the legend of the line drawing. The legends of the Flemish variety should be:

+PhS:DI:GRA:DVX:BG:Z:CO:FLA (Philip by the grace of god duke of Burgundy etc. count of Flanders)
+MONETA:NOVA:COMITI:FLAD' (new coin of the county of Flanders)

Coins of this period usually change legend when struck in another mint, ending with the local title. The coin of the line drawing has the title of Flanders, so it was struck in Brugge or Gent. Other possibilities are duke of Brabant (Brussels, Leuven, Mechelen), count of Holland (The Hague, Dordrecht) and count of Hainaut (Valenciennes). None of these can explain what I read on your piece.

I doctored the illustration to make the legends more readable.

Peter

[Figleaf]

Looking at the side with the arms again, I read the visible part of the legend on your piece as CO:hO+PHI., which could be Comitus Hollandiae + Philippvs. Presuming that the mint mark is in the centre of the cross, the mint is not Dordrecht, as it used a rosette. I am not sure which mark The Hague used. The catalogue seems to imply that it also used the rosette mint mark. However, I think I see a Flemish heraldic lily in the centre of the cross. Whatever it is, it is certainly no rosette.

The legend on the other side is more problematic. Since the + is worn off, I don't know what the top is. Taking what you think is MAX first, I agree on the A. There is only one relevant A in the legend: the one in NOVA. That doesn't fit with the other readable letters. Even if you assume the legend includes the word FLAD, you can't fit the readable letters. I read VMA.8 ?? ?? L ??• ......K•R. My best guess at this point is contemporary counterfeit.

Peter

[capnbirdseye]

Thank you Peter, I  think you might be right about a contemporary counterfeit, I think it's either very debased silver or silver coated because it looks very coppery, it was totally black before I tried cleaning it & no doubt removed the silver coating    Nevertheless an interesting little coin that back in it's history was deemed valuable enough to counterfeit!