Accidental old coin, maybe silver? (Nope, it's nickel.)

[robertk]

I found this in a box of old shaving stuff from my father-in-law. From what I could find, it's Hungarian, but I didn't find anything about whether it's silver or not. It looks and feels like it. The lighting in the room makes it look gold toned, but it isn't. It's about the same size and color as your average old silver dime.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Nice looking coin !
It's made of Nickel.

 

[robertk]

Nice looking coin !
It's made of Nickel.

Cool. Thanks!

 

[Mackaydon]

Actually, it's made of IRON says this site. Most interesting.

Hungary 10 Fillér KM 496 Prices & Values | NGC

View Hungary 10 Fillér prices in the free World Price Guide on NGCcoin.com ? the most comprehensive tool available for World coins.

www.ngccoin.com

Don in SoCal

 

[TORRERO]

Actually, it's made of IRON says this site. Most interesting.

Hungary 10 Fillér KM 496 Prices & Values | NGC

View Hungary 10 Fillér prices in the free World Price Guide on NGCcoin.com ? the most comprehensive tool available for World coins.

www.ngccoin.com

Don in SoCal

Get a magnet, many small denomination coins from other countries are made of iron.. Mexico has tons, I don't know about Euros, but before the Euros there were a lot of small denomination coins, (like penny coins) made of iron..

 

[Red-Coat]

Actually, it's made of IRON says this site. Most interesting.

Hungary 10 Fillér KM 496 Prices & Values | NGC

View Hungary 10 Fillér prices in the free World Price Guide on NGCcoin.com ? the most comprehensive tool available for World coins.

www.ngccoin.com

Don in SoCal

That one will be iron, but it's dated 1918, not 1915.

The pre-war 10 filler coins of Hungary were minted in nickel, but switched to an alloy composition in 1914. It’s variously described in some catalogues as “nickel brass” or “cupronickel” but it’s more properly called “alpacca” (a non-precious imitation of silver, also known as “German silver”) and had a composition of 50% copper, 40% zinc and 10% nickel. Toned coins may have a coppery sheen in certain lighting conditions.

As the economic impact of WWI deepened, without a change in design they switched to iron planchets, first minted in 1916, although my reference catalogue gives the date of the change as “1916 (1915)”. I’m not sure exactly what that means (maybe that mintage of iron coins with a 1916 date actually began in 1915; or perhaps that coins dated 1915 may exist in both metals).

A magnet will tell @robertk which he has, but it looks like alpacca to me.

 

[Mackaydon]

The OP's coin is dated 1915; one of the choices noted on the site I referenced.
Don in SoCal.

 

[Red-Coat]

The OP's coin is dated 1915; one of the choices noted on the site I referenced.
Don in SoCal.

Thanks... then I guess that means 1915-dated coins were produced in both metals in the lead-up to the changeover.

 

[scruggs]

Congrats on the Neat coin you uncovered!

 

[Red-Coat]

The OP's coin is dated 1915; one of the choices noted on the site I referenced.
Don in SoCal.

Thanks... then I guess that means 1915-dated coins were produced in both metals in the lead-up to the changeover.

I just noticed that NGC lists the 10 filler coin in iron dated 1915 at the link you provided as “Karl V”. He didn’t take the throne as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary until 21 November 1916 so, if they are correctly assigning it to his period of rule, that would imply that 1915 dies were still being used in late 1916.

They list the same coin in "copper-nickel-zinc" for the years 1914, 1915 and 1916 as “Franz Joseph I” (who preceded Karl V until his death on 21 November 1916):

https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide...ér-km-494-1914-1916-cuid-1123242-duid-1412914

For both listings there is a footnote that “varieties exist”. My take would be that the dies produced in 1915 and 1916 for Franz Joseph I were used to strike alpacca coins during his reign but continued to be used after his death during a period when the mint was switching to iron planchets. The coins don’t have the ruler’s title and the design didn’t change, so only the metal type distinguishes them.

Magnet needed!

 

[robertk]

Actually, it's made of IRON says this site. Most interesting.

Hungary 10 Fillér KM 496 Prices & Values | NGC

View Hungary 10 Fillér prices in the free World Price Guide on NGCcoin.com ? the most comprehensive tool available for World coins.

www.ngccoin.com

Don in SoCal

Nice. I'm not sure what grade it would be, but it seems to be in decent shape. It's worth more to me for the sentiment and the "why did he have this coin?" factor anyway.

 

[robertk]

The pre-war 10 filler coins of Hungary were minted in nickel, but switched to an alloy composition in 1914. It’s variously described in some catalogues as “nickel brass” or “cupronickel” but it’s more properly called “alpacca” (a non-precious imitation of silver, also known as “German silver”) and had a composition of 50% copper, 40% zinc and 10% nickel. Toned coins may have a coppery sheen in certain lighting conditions.

OK the question of composition might be answered. The coin isn't attracted to a magnet at all. Not even a little bit. So it's not any kind of iron.

Thanks to everyone who has replied. As always, I'm learning something with every post!

 

[Digger RJ]

I found this in a box of old shaving stuff from my father-in-law. From what I could find, it's Hungarian, but I didn't find anything about whether it's silver or not. It looks and feels like it. The lighting in the room makes it look gold toned, but it isn't. It's about the same size and color as your average old silver dime.

View attachment 2118114 View attachment 2118113

Nice!!! Congrats!!!