Continental Currency 1776

[tfalnp]

Hey Guys,

This is my first post here on Treasure Net. After the passing of my grandfather I received his rather large coin collection. Out of interest I am checking to see the authenticity of most of his coins, and the Continental "Curency" coin caught my attention. I know little to nothing about this coin other than what I've quickly internet searched. If any of you have any info, I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks!

imgur: the simple image sharer
imgur: the simple image sharer

 

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[flyadive]

From the "red book"

 

[BabyNeedsANewPairO'Shoes]

Wow. Sorry for your loss...but congrats on your coins. Best, Bruce

 

[tfalnp]

Wow, it appears to be valuable, do you know anything about its authenticity? I've read that this is coin is commonly reproduced. Thanks!

 

[tfalnp]

Thank You Bruce

 

[Mackaydon]

Welcome to Treasure Net !!
Suggest you take them to a reputable dealer for his opinion.
To me, they look like pewter replicas; hope I'm wrong.
Don.......

 

[l.cutler]

Unfortunately yours is one of the many souvenir replicas. Look at the grainy mushy lettering and devices, as opposed to the crisp lettering and devices on the original pictured. This is a sure sign of a cast replica.

 

[Silver Searcher]

Coin in the attachments look silver to me, so hopefully they are real...good luck

SS

 

[Mackaydon]

Only two known specimens of the CURENCY coin are known to exist in silver--so I seriously doubt this is the third.
Don.....

 

[spudnutt]

these 9.99999999999999999 times out of 10 are replicas. The design was done by Franklin if I believe correctly. A very rare coin if original.

 

[nhbenz]

Looking around I noted that there were re-strikes that still have appreciable value, which may be worth looking into.

 

[Born2Late]

When I moved from collecting U.S. Federal coins to collecting "colonial"/early American coins, in 1987, one of my first objectives was to obtain a genuine continental currency coin. I read everything I could about them and bought every replica that I could, just so that I would know the real thing when I saw it. I accumulated a whole drawer full of replicas and still pick one up every now and then - just because they are cool. I learned that replicas are almost always thicker and smaller in diameter than the real thing, that the edge device is very distinctive (twin olive leaf), that the weight and specific gravity of real ones fall within a certain range, etc.

In 1988, I bought a "genuine" example from a national dealer whose focus was not colonials, but knew immediately when I saw it in hand that it was a replica. I sent it back. I finally bought a fairly nice real one in 1989 (Newman 3-D, "E G FECIT") from Stack's. A couple of years later, I bought a second, low grade 3-D example in a small auction, for $7. It turned out to be genuine. My points are 1.) Dealers don't always get it right, 2.) I think the best way to learn to tell the difference is to compare a few replicas to real ones in hand. Once you've seen them side-by-side, 99.99% of the replicas are easy to spot.

Having said this, in my opinion, this example is a replica, as several have indicated. It is a match for several replicas that I own.