John the Blind

[robfinds]

Had an interesting hammered coin today. It's a imitation of an English medieval coin, made in Luxembourg by John the Blind 1309-35. Sterling imitations and contemporary forgeries I had one of these coins around 20 years ago, about 10 miles away from this one. Very pleased with this coin, they are not that common.

Robert.

 

[WheatWaffle]

Nice find!

 

[robfinds]

Cheers

 

[Ia.FurTrade]

I like it!!

 

[beez0404]

That's a beauty.

 

[CRUSADER]

Yeap, as they are more debased, they don't come out so nice & can be hard to ID. That one is in good shape. I've had a few (no many) European imitations, but I've not had him yet. Great piece of history, as it shows how careful traders needed to be, so as not to be ripped off.

 

[Garrett424]

Spectacular find.
Congrats.

 

[robfinds]

Yeap, as they are more debased, they don't come out so nice & can be hard to ID. That one is in good shape. I've had a few (no many) European imitations, but I've not had him yet. Great piece of history, as it shows how careful traders needed to be, so as not to be ripped off.

Think they were buying English wool, with these debased coins Cru.

 

[robfinds]

Spectacular find.
Congrats.

Thanks, very pleased with it.

 

[perry2]

How do you tell the real from the fake ?? Perry

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Nice find! Congrats! They would have to revive me if I found anything close to that here!

 

[robfinds]

How do you tell the real from the fake ?? Perry

The legends don't match English coins Perry.

 

[CRUSADER]

How do you tell the real from the fake ?? Perry

There not techniquely 'fakes', many of these imitations were made by power leaders/Church/Chiefs in Europe to try & create their own currency. These were accepted because they had a silver content, & therefore 'a value'. Its was just taking advantage of our trader power base & making money that 'looked like' or similar to our Penny. Therefore, those that didn't realise might take them for the full 'Penny' value instead of less based on its lack of purity. Hope this kind of makes sense.

PS. Rob answered the how you can tell. Its often 1 of 2 things, a bludered Overse Legend or more easily spotted; the reverse Legend which often spells out the 'powerful persons name' & where it was minted.