roman numerals

[markgoldhunter]

So if you find an old coin sometimes the only way to date the coin is to know your roman numerals. as I understand it m=1000 d=500 c=100 l=50 x=10 v=5 i=1, but I have recently found 2 'one tenth of a pound' florins that have me scratching my head showing the numerals r and b. The one on the left is marked mdcccl.rrbii. and the one on the right shows mdccclbi . So I can only assume the r is 10 and the b is 5. this would make their dates 1877 and 1856 respectively. Anyone have any other thoughts. Either way I am pretty rapped to have found these fantastic old coins. Cheers Mark.

 

[Manpa]

May help with your identifications
https://www.allcoinvalues.com/unite...ictoria2c-gothic2c-48-trefoils2c-no-stop.html
https://www.allcoinvalues.com/united-kingdom/1856-uk-florin-value2c-victoria2c-gothic.html

 

[Hippyty79]

Not a bad find

 

[markgoldhunter]

Yeah I was happy with the first one a couple of years ago at a mate's place [so that one is his] I hadn't heard of a 'one tenth of a pound' coin before that, and then only a couple of weeks ago the 1856 one turned up, along with 3 shillings for good measure. Yeah happy days.

 

[axtyr]

Mark, your first sentence is the correct one.

There are no "b"s or "r"s in the date, it's just the way they are stamped onto the coin. The "b" you can see is a V. Look at the left hand side of the coin where it is stamped "britt", the "B" is different to the one in the date. It is just the Gothic font used on the coin. The "r"s are "x"s. They are very similar but the R is missing the bottom left hand hook as you can see in the R in VICTORIA on the left hand side of the coin.

The right hand side of the coin is stamped:

REG: Regina or queen

F.D.: Defender of the Faith

Then the date. You have stated the correct dates of 1856 and 1877.

Regards Axtyr.

 

[markgoldhunter]

Thanks Axtyr, that does explain it. I have seen other 'one tenth of a pound' coins that have a clear x and v in the date but they must not be using the gothic font, I will have another look at some more examples. Cheers Mark.