1769?

[daggit]

Hi I received this quite some time ago and its been at the back of a drawer. I was given some info before but didn't write it down and can't remember I think it's Austrian, maybe the denomination is 20 Kreuzers could someone give me any info please.

[KurtS]

Just a guess--it appears to depict Joseph II (Ioseph is Latin), who was Holy Roman Emperor at the time. Here's a tidbit of info on him.

Btw, I believe the coin has arrived to Mr. Scott.

[Robert]

Yes it's a 1769 Austrian 20 kreuzer. Between a quarter and a half dollar in size. Should be 6.680 grams of 0.583 silver, which gives 0.1252 ASW.

Mint mark below bust = B = Kremnitz (Hungary). There were several Austrian states (like German states) but your coin was issued under Austria proper by the Austrian mint in Kremnitz. (If that makes any sense...)

At the eagles' wings are "EVM" and "D". I believe those are the initials of the minmaster/assayer but my Krause dosn't list those for Austria proper as it does for some of the Austrian states. A brief internet search tells me that they might stand for Ignaz Krammer Edler von Munzburg and P. Joseph von Damiani.


My 1993 Krause says $5 in VG, $10 in F and $15 in VF. No mintage is listed for that year but some others range from 164K to 778K with an anomalous mintage of 4.569 million in 1778. This combines several issues. I'd guess your coin has a mintage of about 250K.


Interesting side note. Maria Theresa (of Thaler fame) was married to Franz I. When he died in 1765, Maria Theresa mandated that coins be struck with the 1765 date but with a letter indicating the actual year (i.e. 1766=A, 1766=B, etc). This was done sometimes but not all the time. Your coin is of Joseph II, and therefore not part of that dating scheme. Your "B" is the mint mark. Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor beginning in 1765.

Maria Theresa died in 1780, which may be why the thaler restrikes we've all seen have that date.

Hope this helps...

[daggit]

[daggit]

Thank you very much Robert for all the info.