Is this fake or something else?

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I think this coin is Teston. But I doubt it's fake. Because it's only 7.7 grams. All the other coins I've seen weighed over 8.2 grams. Is this normal? What do you think of this coin? 

 

~ 29 mm 

 

 

 

Looks good to me.

17th century coins will usually have quite a bit more of weight variations than say 19th century coins.

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apuking

Looks good to me.

17th century coins will usually have quite a bit more of weight variations than say 19th century coins.

Agree to that.

Globetrotter
Coin varieties in French:
https://monnaiesetvarietes.numista.com

It doesn't look right to me. The face, hair and clothing appear different.

 

N#33782

Referee for Exonumia from United States

Compare. 2  dated 1632 . Looks off to me as well.

Edit. Sorry. Numista's is dated 1627.

Coin looks too perfect to be genuine. I mean just by looking at edges it seems fishy. I am used to much more irregular shapes from that period. This looks like homemade coin, even though material of the coin could be the proper one

In 1632 they hammered their coins, so no coin was resembling the others.

Globetrotter
Coin varieties in French:
https://monnaiesetvarietes.numista.com

I know that. But from my experience there was some quality control back in 1700s and 1800s so I am cautious. Even old Roman coins are safer to buy these days than these medieval ones. Features just seem off on this coin. 

On the reverse, the crown has stars  on it, don’t think that is correct.

Referee for Exonumia from United States

Hammered or not, the die should be the same at least for the same year and the image should be consistent. Being hammered, the strike may vary but you would expect the image to be the same. The OP's coin shows a completely different bust profile as well as growing a small beard from the lower chin. His coin shows a bust with rounded features below the nose while the genuine 1632 shows extended and elongated features below the nose. Not convinced his is genuine.

I think it's fine.  There were some small changes to the bust during the years of issue (the beard as noted, but also some more major ones yo'll find in the Comments in this coin), some changes in punctuation, etc.  If you search on this date in acsearch, you also find the stars on the band below the crown are normal. 

 

Yes, the weight is a bit light, but I can find one at 7.8 grams, and a couple of worn ones even lower.

To harryg's good point on the number of dies used …

These coins were struck in fairly large numbers based on how many we can find with a web search.  

 

I can find at least three major die varieties for the 1632 obverse (and I think two of these have additional variants):

- normal bust with rounded beard. The hair falls in a diagonal line that touches collar only at back

- normal bust with pointed beard. The hair falls in a nearly straight line, touching collar more

- narrow bust with pointed beard

Grateful for questions like this that help me learn more (in this case about an area I collect).

I think we need to confirm that there is indeed at least 3 variants as 1 coin does not constitute a variant. We still have not established for certain what the OP's coin is yet. Can you find at least a few genuine examples of each to validate this assertation? Lets try that first to confirm this is not a counterfeit. Far too many assumptions here.

Im thinking if this could be the same die used as this 1632 Teston of the Duchy of Lorraine

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9916241

If you like coins, medals and tokens with ship motives follow my new instagram account with regular updates @numisnautiker
From time to time I sell some coins on Ebay make sure to follow me @apuking on Ebay.

apuking

Im thinking if this could be the same die used as this 1632 Teston of the Duchy of Lorraine

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9916241

Indeed it does look identical to the OP's coin to my eye. This makes the argument more convincing to me. The slight weight variance of the OP's  example is not of great concern so I am satisfied enough that his example is more than likely genuine. Lets hope the Respective referee agrees.

Refer him to this thread, and he will….

Globetrotter
Coin varieties in French:
https://monnaiesetvarietes.numista.com

Thanks but I have no interest in being involved in the attributes of this coin type and requesting changes in the catalog for it. Perhaps somebody else would like to contribute this information as this is not my area of interest. I was simply trying to assist in authenticating the OP's coin for him with some certainty.

harryg

I think we need to confirm that there is indeed at least 3 variants as 1 coin does not constitute a variant. We still have not established for certain what the OP's coin is yet. Can you find at least a few genuine examples of each to validate this assertation? Lets try that first to confirm this is not a counterfeit. Far too many assumptions here.

Well, yes, that's a fair point, but I usually do my homework before making an assertion like that. (Also, I wrote the existing comments section on the more significant Charles teston variants for 1626 and 1629, and was the ref for Duchy of Lorraine for a while 😉). 

 

Normal bust, rounded beard:

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2377727

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2753323

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1526353

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=6935989

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8725012

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7032462

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=9169265

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=159594

 

Normal bust, pointed beard:

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2753324

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2753325

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1391364

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1148947

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=154791

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7857117

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7880846

 

Narrow bust: 

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=6096951

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=10122648

 

This gets us to about half the examples currently available on acsearch, so we could continue … 

 

If you know this type, the only thing that was ever of concern was the weight.

Thanks to everyone who replied to my message and gave their opinion. Although I wasn't sure before, now I think it's probably the original teston. If anyone has other ideas on this, I'd love for them to provide a new answer. Kind regards...

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