frank

I don't have my Gadoury with me here at work; I'll check it when I get home for mintages for the 1693 Rennes. Your copy seems more worn that the comparison coin at 400 euros. I assume both coins were restruck over earlier issues (given the evidence on the comparison coin), but yours shows no restrike evidence. Hmmmm.

What Art said -- DC is a great city. Congrats!

The once formidable cgb.fr site is now too clunky to search and I'm running out of ideas.

You're right about that, sadly. Why they would screw up such a great resource, I can't imagine.

Welcome to Coin People, Pam. I agree it's not a good idea to leave anything with a dealer without knowing him very well (and knowing exactly what you have given him).

We can help with identifying your coins and bills. You will need to photograph them, or scan them on a scanner, and then upload the images to a site like Photobucket that lets you store images online. Then you can post your pictures on this site by copying the URL for the image and clicking on the "image" button in the reply panel and pasting the URL into the box.

hi frank,thanks for taking the time to email that link and the info to(very interesting), i cant remember where i got this one from as ive found so many in the past,i would hazzard a guess and say from the thames as ive had most of mine from there,i will put some of my others on here soon.many thanks again

Ah, if only we had a Thames here to go mudlarking in!

Ah! That's very useful to know. Bill --thanks.

These stories are what keep me collecting. Beautiful.

Bless you Pat for your hard work! I have wondered about that jeton for years. I think Fontenay's reading is correct, je m'ouvre instead of je meurs. And it does seem to be a German issue, substituting an F for a V in French, and a D for a T.

(prostrates self in gratitude)

I've never seen exactly this type of medieval jeton in France, but I did find a link showing it selling for a pretty penny, so it must be rare. The reverse legend is DES COMPTES LE ROY, perhaps a precursor to the French series Les comptes du roi. Looks beautiful!

http://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/pegasi_numismatics/123/product/france__xv_century_ad___jeton_208_gm__crowned_head_facing_in_tressure__fleury_cross_in_quadrilobe_des_comptes_le_roy__m__vf_green_patina_edge_clip/211089/Default.aspx

Thank you Ian for offering help. I had to sell the bulk of my jeton collection to pay debts, so at this point I'm enjoying yours vicariously and learning all the interesting details I never had the time (or motivation) to look up.

Beautiful jeton, and thanks for the info re French guilds. I am extremely jealous of your collection, Ian.

Looks OK to me. It has the sort of marbling seen in early cent planchets. VF, I think. Not a bad price.

In Panama! That's a real mystery. The only French in Panama that I'm aware of was Ferdinand de Lesseps's crew and its ill-fated plans for the canal in the 1880s.

Wow. I've seen lots of things done to these 20 centime pieces of Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, but this I've never seen before. Try posting this in Exonumia. Maybe someone there has seen something like it.

I really like it!

It's a French jeton from the second half of the 16th century. Really nice and not often seen. Here's a link showing it unsold at auction at an asking price of 100 euros:

http://www.inumis.com/us/vso//charles-cardinal-de-bourbon-futur-charles-x-roi-de-la-ligue-sd-a19997.html

Charles X Cardinal de Bourbon was head of la Ligue, a conservative Catholic group that opposed making any deals with Protestants to continue the royal succession. Imprisoned, he eventually endorsed his nephew, the future Henri IV of Navarre --a Protestant who converted to Catholicism on taking the crown in 1590.

Looks like your basic "jeton à la nef," i.e. with a ship on the front (you've got it upside down) and a diamond design on the back. Usually made XV-XVIe in Northern France / Belgium / Netherlands with fictitious legends.

Here's a possibility:

Actually this jeton seems to have real legends; I think the obverse is VOLGUE LA GALERE DE FRANCE perhaps. A reference to the ship on the seal of the city of Paris, with the motto FLUCTUAT NEC MERGITUR "It is tossed by the waves but does not sink."

Ebay has its shortcomings. In some areas the variety of coins available has diminished considerably over the past 5-8 years. Still, it's a useful source for price comparison.

If you live not too far from a coin shop, that's a best starting point. Otherwise, there are lots of online dealers. Maybe some other Coin Peep can suggest some?

I really love the toning on the later jeton, Ian. Both are beautiful. BTW, who is the martyr (palm branch) standing next to the Bishop?

Really beautiful.

Awesome, Pat. I'm jealous.

Ditto. I had your post (with the big photo of the medal) on my screen yesterday and was about to write how much I liked it when a student came into my office. He may have wondered just what sort of stuff I was looking at online...

Looks like I found a very similar coin on a French metal detectors site: a French patard from Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605).

Here's the link: http://www.la-detection.com/dp/message-44096.htm

Here's the text of the message (scroll down): c'est bien un patard de Clement VIII 1592 et 1605

A/CLEMENT VIII.PONT.MA 2 clefs en sautoir (2 keys crossed)

R/S PETRVS.ET.PAVLVS.CAR croix dans 4 demi cercle (a cross in 4 half-circles)

PA 4367

L'Art de se traiter dans les maladies veneriennes." Paris, 1770 was one of many books, so "ornery" seems somewhat appropriate oh sorry I thought you wrote "horny"