Engraved 1695 silver crown

[Guest barry633]

My grandmother recently left me an old tin box full of old coins. To numerous to list, but mainly siver threepences, pennies, farthings, and odd foreign coins. amongst them is a silver crown dated 1695. between the face ( kings head ) and the writing around the edge, is engraved very neatly in script what looks like J Muncaster. can anyone throw any light on this coin. Eg why it would have been engraved, does this de value the coin, or perhaps increase the value. would love to post a photo but my photography is bad to say the least (20+ useless photos taken already). so if anyone would like a photo perhaps they could tell me how to do it. many thanks in advance for taking the time to read this....bjp

[Red Riley 2]

Engraving a name on a coin was very common at that time, and usually happened when the type of coin was no longer in regular use, so your J Muncaster may well have engraved his name c. 1740 or so. As a numismatic object, the value of your coin has been dramatically reduced by his action, but in some ways the engraving adds to its historical interest, so not a complete write-off. The value will still depend on the state of preservation of the coin, and perhaps bizarrely on the quality of the subsequent engraving.

[Guest barry633]

Many thanks for that piece of info. I assume that mainly well to do people had their names engraved on the coins. My Grandmother lived near Ravenglass Cumbria. That is not far from muncaster castle, the owners are the Pennington family, and around the time you estimate the coin to have been engraved the castle was occupied by sir joseph pennington, his grandson was john pennington who became the first lord Muncaster. ergo J mucaster ? ( what do you think ) longshot i know but it may add provinence to the coin. The coin is smooth and around 90% eligable, not bad, but not quite fine. The engraving is perfect, and easily read. Would be interested in any further info or thoughts you may have. thankyou for taking the time to reply. regasrds Barry633