Hammered coin...poor condition not much detail...ID help please

[Blackadder43]

Ok hi all....
I know this is a long shot and am not expecting miracles, but i know there are some knowledgable people on here so here goes....

Today i found a tiny hammered, pretty poor condition...

My camera is rubbish for close ups and to be honest all you would see is a small silver disc..
I am going to attempt at explaining it from the little i can see with a magnifying glass..(magnifying usb camera on order ;-) )

Size...approx 17mm diameter at its widest and approx 16mm at its smallest...
To give a better picture it sits comfortably inside a new 5p piece with just a tiny amount of the 5p rim showing.
It is wafer thin

On the reverse side (tails to me)
There is a definate shield which takes up the whole coin and is split into 4 segments...

In the bottom right segment is a cross.... not an equal cross but more of a crusifix cross.

Directly above that segment is what appears to be the head of a Dragon and partial body

The 2 left side segments are a bit buckled and very worn with nothing to be seen with an ordinary magnifying glass

On the other side (heads to me)
No facial features visible with mag glass, there are some letters and numbers but cant make them out, except for a number 8
Around the edge are the dots...its slightly off centre and as said very worn....

Now i dont realy expect anyone to id this but if you do then you are definately on my xmas list...
Otherwise i will have to wait for my magnifying camera to arrive..

Thanks for looking.....

[CRUSADER]

James I Halfgroat circa 1603-4

Your going to over take my hammered total for the year at this rate

[Blackadder43]

Many Many thanks crusader......
What did you see that made your decision if you dont mind me asking?
And could you recommend a good starting book for reference on these hammys?
Thanks

[CRUSADER]

Many Many thanks crusader......
What did you see that made your decision if you dont mind me asking?
And could you recommend a good starting book for reference on these hammys?
Thanks

I saw a large shield with no legend & instantly thought of two possibilities (James I) or a heavily clipped coin down to the inner circle. Basically I found a similar one.

The best book is:
'Coins Of England & the United Kingdon' Spink 2010 - or you could get a older version from ebay cheap. Only difference is the prices, it covers all the coins from Celtic to Modern, the hammered section is good enough for 95% of the likely variants you will find.

[CRUSADER]

It's never good to match coins on looks alone so I checked the Obverse Legend & the letters match in the right places:

[missing letters] Visible just

[I:]G[ROSA.]S[I]NE.S[PINA]

[Blackadder43]

Crusader...you are a hive of usefull information......
Thanks again.......Need some sleep now so i can work out another excuse to go out detecting tomorrow

[CRUSADER]

Crusader...you are a hive of usefull information......
Thanks again.......Need some sleep now so i can work out another excuse to go out detecting tomorrow

no probs,

The other hint was the Crown breaking the inner circle where the Legend would normallly be.

Look at the slightly better one halfway down the page, just before one thats worse than yours:
http://www.colchestertreasurehunting...J/james1st.htm


PS. Next time try posting it in the 'What Is It' forum, two below this one which is the 'Best Finds' (although it may qualify at the moment). Also would like to see you posting in 'Todays Finds' where most of us hang out, I would like to see your run of the mill stuff like buttons & buckles etc..

[hammered]

Crusader...you are a hive of usefull information......
Thanks again.......Need some sleep now so i can work out another excuse to go out detecting tomorrow

no probs,

The other hint was the Crown breaking the inner circle where the Legend would normallly be.

Look at the slightly better one halfway down the page, just before one thats worse than yours:
http://www.colchestertreasurehunting...J/james1st.htm


PS. Next time try posting it in the 'What Is It' forum, two below this one which is the 'Best Finds' (although it may qualify at the moment). Also would like to see you posting in 'Todays Finds' where most of us hang out, I would like to see your run of the mill stuff like buttons & buckles etc..

Hi Blackadder and welcome to Tnet . Cru is right about putting you posts in the right place, I started off in "General Discussion". If you had put this post in "What is it" I would have had achance to get it wrong before Cru got it right . Needless to say Cru got it right (as usual) but here are a couple of links to coins in better condition http://www.yorkcoins.com/h2170_-_jam...econd_bust.htm and No 2. http://www.yorkcoins.com/h1520_-_jam...m__thistle.htm .

Good luck and hh

hammered

[Blackadder43]

Thanks guys.....yea i will pay more attention to where i am posting.......sorry all....