1761 coin... what is it?

[Guest Steve]

Here is a coin that I inherited from my grandfather, but he had no knowledge of where it came from either. It appears to be a coin from 1761, but despite mentioning George III, it does not contain a portrait of the King. It seems to be silver, roughly 33mm in diameter, probably F/VF in condition (it looks better in person than it does on these scans).

I've flipped through coin books over the years, but never seen anything like it. Any identification and (ballpark) value would be appreciated. No intention of selling it, just curious. Thanks in advance for any help you may provide.

[Geoff T 3]

The Hanoverian kings were also electors, and later kings, of Hanover. This is a German coin of George III giving his German titles of Duke of Luneberg and Brunswick.

[Guest Steve]

Ah ha! This explains why my previous efforts have been in vain! Many thanks for clearing that up. If you have any idea of its value, or on-line references for further information, that would be wonderful, but thank you for this information.

[mint_mark 9]

It looks like a thaler of (deep breath) Brunswick-Luneburg-Calenberg-Hannover... but it should be more like 39mm, They did have some 2/3 thaler coins of about 33mm, but not with that design.

If you can weigh it that would help...

[Guest Steve]

Knowing know what I was looking at, I did find, if not the exact coin, a very similar 1746 Georg II thaler on eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

I can still weigh and measure it if you think it would be of any use, but I think we have the coin, if not the value, pretty much down.

[mint_mark 9]

Good find Steve! That is a very similar Thaler... in my catalogue it shows the two different designs. The ebay one is George II. When George III became king, the titles were rearranged a bit and that's what you've got.

The only reason to weigh and measure would be to satisfy yourself about authenticity. I don't know if it happened with German thalers, but with British coins you can get a whole range of replicas... from similarly designed counters and gaming tokens all the way to well executed forgeries in a different metal (and plated).

[Guest sjadelson]

My fault for poor measurement the first time... don't know what happened.

But, it's approximately 40mm and weighs 30g (as measured on a food scale.... so close but not exact). Anyway, does that sound about right for an authentic coin?

[mint_mark 9]

Well, in the book it is 39mm, so that seems right. Unfortunately the book doesn't give the weight for those thalers. The closest I could find was a Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel thaler of 1821 which was 28g. Although the thaler was a fixed weight of silver, it did change over time, getting smaller due to inflation.

So, if you're sure it's silver and not lead or something then it seems to be the right size and weight.