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Help with an old coin please

Started by Goldrockz, September 26, 2016, 02:38:30 PM

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Goldrockz

Hi,

Can anyone help identify this coin?

Thanks







Pellinore

It's a sixpence of King Charles I. But it looks clipped. What's the weight and diameter?
-- Paul

Goldrockz

Hi Paul,
It is thin weighing only 2.0 grams and 2.2 cm in diameter.

Thanks
Richard

Pellinore

Seems 10% too low to me. But Charles's last years were turmoil times, maybe they were lax with weights. And I'm not an expert at all!
I saw a comparable coin much like yours here.
Your reverse is upside down, it should be like this.
-- Paul


FosseWay


Goldrockz


Figleaf

Since there are no inner circle of pearls on either side, this should be Spink 2813. The mintmark (possibilities: bell, crown and tun) is largely off-flan, but if I correctly see the lower part of an oval at 12 o'clock on the side with the arms, it would be tun (1636-1638, Tower mint). Obverse legend is CAROLVS Dei Gratia MAgnae BRitanniae FRanciae et HIberniae REX - Charles by the grace of god king of Great Britain France and Ireland. Reverse legend is CHRISTO AUSPICE REGNO - I reign under the auspices of Christ (literally, Christ auspices king - pretty bad latin). Only capitals are on your coin.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

FosseWay

Quote from: Figleaf on September 27, 2016, 12:43:59 AM
Reverse legend is CHRISTO AUSPICE REGNO - I reign under the auspices of Christ (literally, Christ auspices king - pretty bad latin).

There is nothing wrong with the Latin, but rather with the traditional translation of the phrase into English (which according to Spink and every other source I've seen is what you say, I reign under the auspices of Christ).

Regno is a verb (I reign, from regnare), not a part of rex = king.

Auspice is (a) singular and (b) an adjective meaning "auspicious" (in this sense), and therefore cannot accurately be translated as "auspices". The English words that derive from auspex have diverged somewhat in meaning, so that "auspicious" and "auspices" are no longer simply adjectival and nominal versions of the same word.

Christo is in the ablative case, not the genitive, so it cannot accurately be rendered as "of Christ".

Thus the literal translation is "I reign [by means of] Christ [the] auspicious" (bits in square brackets are not explicitly stated in the Latin but are conveyed by the case endings or added to fit the rules of English syntax).