1902 One Penny

[Guest Trish]

The coin is made of copper, is less than 1cm in diameter. One one side is Brittania with a ship on her right and a lighthouse on her left. The words ONE PENNY circled on the outside edge, and 1902 stamped at the bottom. On the other side are the words LUDW: CHRIST: LAUER. NUANBERG and MADE IN GERMANY

Can anybody point me in the right direction. I've done a fair bit of surfing on the net to no avail

Kind Regards

Trish

[Master Jmd 88]

Less than 1 cm One Penny...hmm...could it be a 'toy' piece?

[Chris Perkins 228]

It is, it's a Lauer toy or model coin. The German company made small copies of most British denominations.

[Guest Trish]

What a great site! Thank you Master Jmd & Chris. At first I thought a Token, then I envisaged a rich Victorian era family with their little girl playing with her 5ft dolls house. Is this why they were made?

Are there many 'toys/models' around? are they collectable?

By the bye, you can probably tell by the times posted on the emails, I'm an expatriate living in Australia. It is currently 7.25pm 15 Sept

regards

Trish

[Chris Perkins 228]

Yes, I think many were made for that purpose. Although at one stage I think Lauer were just showing off their skills by making tiny intricate accurate replicas of British coins! I wonder how many Victorian children ended up swallowing them?

I have a tiny collection of tiny coins, I don't think they sell for all that much. Like with all coins, an example in mint condition with full lustre would be far more desirsable than an average example. There's probably a book on it somewhere.

I'm afraid I hadn't paid much attention to your posting times! I'm an expat living in Germany.