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We found these two identical coins in our garden (near Wuerzburg, lower Franconia / northern Bavaria):

Coin side A: coat-of-arms of sorts:

enter image description here

enter image description here

(the scale units are centimetres / millimetres)

Coin Side B - "templar-type cross":

enter image description here

enter image description here

Unfortunately rather eroded, and apparently notably cut / sheared off around the outside. It looks like one side has a Templar-Type cross, with some symbols or heraldic signs between the arms of the cross. The second side bears a shield / coat of armor, surrounded by letters (clockwise from top right, 'H' ? , 'A', 'W' ? , '7' / 'Z', 'P', 'L', '8' ?).

Very curious what these would be.

The design doesn't match what I can find online about coins minted by the local mint in Wuerzburg, nor in fact does the "cross" design appear common in German medieval coins at all. The cross design reminds me more of French Guenars / English Groats, but the heraldics aren't fleur-de-lis / Plantagenet lions.

Anyone got an idea what these may be ?

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  • Same for me ... the imgur linking doesn't appear to work correctly. Embedded smaller versions - they show up.
    – FrankH.
    May 4, 2020 at 9:15
  • The design reminds me of Spanish coinage. img0.etsystatic.com/055/0/5226499/il_570xN.726515252_b2xr.jpg
    – Tom Sol
    May 4, 2020 at 9:25
  • @Tom interesting - indeed that appears rather similar, thank you ! Do you happen to have any more references about these spanish coins ?
    – FrankH.
    May 4, 2020 at 9:57
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    Do not try to clean them any further. Dirt and patina may reduce the value somewhat, but traces of cleaning much more so.
    – Volker Siegel
    May 5, 2020 at 6:39
  • I found a coin exactly the same as this one. All the way down to the clippings on the sides. Was it ever determined where these couns originated from and what era?
    – Kort
    Jun 5, 2022 at 12:35

2 Answers 2

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They are specifically Spanish 2 Escudo Doubloons minted between 1651 to 1773, or modern replicas - as they are identical, it would seem to suggest the latter. This Amazon seller 🕑 appears to have identical coins.

[coins[3]
Image from https://www.eaglegames.net/Empires-Age-of-Discovery-Metal-Coins-p/101617.htm, used with permission of Eagle Games.

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    Can you add images (if copyright allows)? Problem is that this amazon page is likely to disappear.
    – Lars Bosteen
    May 5, 2020 at 3:57
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    The copyright is the issue - I've found versions on Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, Google Images - but no copyright-free / CC version yet.
    – IronEagle
    May 5, 2020 at 4:34
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    "Beverly Oaks Metal Pirate" appears to be a good search term, if you are looking for this in the future. The main supplier appears to be Beverly Oaks LLC.
    – IronEagle
    May 5, 2020 at 4:39
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    I'm just thinking of folks in the future who want to check.
    – Lars Bosteen
    May 5, 2020 at 5:43
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    Interesting - maybe my brother-in-law wants to give my nephew a "pirate surprise" :-) thanks for pointing this one out. Yes, I was a little surprised to see two almost-identical coins both badly (yet very similarly) corroded ... helps !
    – FrankH.
    May 5, 2020 at 8:51
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Note As @Volker Siegel said in the comments:

Do not try to clean them any further. Dirt and patina may reduce the value somewhat, but traces of cleaning much more so.

I am certain this is a Spanish Real.

The real (meaning: "royal", plural: reales) was a unit of currency in Spain for several centuries after the mid-14th century. It underwent several changes in value relative to other units throughout its lifetime until it was replaced by the peseta in 1868. The most common denomination for the currency was the silver eight-real Spanish dollar (Real de a 8) or peso which was used throughout Europe, America and Asia during the height of the Spanish Empire.Wikipedia intro to Spanish real

The Spanish Real has a very wide variety of designs but the one I could find closest to yours is one from 1588 on ebay.

You can notice the cross is surrounded by 4 shapes representing castles and lions similar to yours. Also the dots around the cross and the letters surrounding it appear on your coin.

[Side B] [Side A]

Picture from seller on ebay

As you yourself have found based on this preliminary answer, is a minting much closer than the one I have found and will therefore incorporate into this answer.

[Side A+B from Coinshome]

The details on this coin correlate with the details of the coin you have found.

As you noted in your question:

Unfortunately rather eroded, and apparently notably cut / sheared off around the outside.

Erosion is relatively normal for coins that age, with exceptions of course. The noticeable "shearing" or "cutting" could be because the coin was too heavy after minting and needed to be clipped until the proper weight was achieved.

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    Indeed this appear to be it - coinshome.net/en/… has a readable picture that shows the coat-of-arms side as well.
    – FrankH.
    May 4, 2020 at 10:56
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    @IronEagle points out that the pattern of "erosion" and of "shearing" on the two coins is exactly identical, indicating that they're modern imitations, not actual 17th/18th-century coinage. Lucky that you found two together; if you'd found just one you'd have to go ask a real numismatist whether they were authentic! :)
    – Quuxplusone
    May 5, 2020 at 17:45
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    Another reason for cut coins can be that somebody way back when was shaving off bits to melt down and reuse, which was a somewhat common practice in the criminal element back in the day. (It's the reason why most modern coinage has ridges or text embossed on the edges, to make such tampering more evident.)
    – Darrel Hoffman
    May 5, 2020 at 20:52

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