Today I will start by describing the coins I am presenting.
- 1 gulden, 1860, 1878, 1888, 1883, 1881, diameter 29 mm, weight 12.345 g of silver, purity 900/1000
- 1/4 gulden, 1858, 1862, diameter 23 mm, weight 5.341 g of silver, purity 520/1000
You will have noticed that one of the coins is "strange". The 1888 Gulden piece is a counterfeit. Not to the detriment of collectors, but to the detriment of current users. The counterfeit is cast in lead.
Guldens were valid in Austria and later in Austria-Hungary from 1858 to 1892. Why did their form change over time? It depends.
The inscription on the first and second coins has changed. On the first coin the Emperor is called King of Lombardy and Venice. On the second, the title is no longer present, with additional letters added to the titles.
Emperor Franz Joseph I lost the war with France and Piedmont, and later with Prussia. Venice and Lombardy had to be handed over by Austria to the newly emerging Italy.
The lost war with Prussia led to the transformation of Austria into Austria-Hungary. Austria was an empire, Hungary was a kingdom. The coins had the same size and weight, but different images and descriptions, once in Latin, once in Hungarian.
Coins 4 and 5 are therefore Hungarian guldens. In 1882, the Hungarian Parliament changed the national emblem. Therefore, a new coin design appeared.
Coins 6 and 7 are quarter guldens. The 7 coin features a smaller state emblem and a larger numeral indicating the value. Probably for practical reasons. There was a high illiteracy rate in some areas of Austria. The population was poor. Someone was probably trying to pass off quarter guldens as guldens.
After all, you probably wouldn't confuse the fake lead coin with a real silver one. But it was not so difficult to mislead a poorly educated person of that time.
I admit that I used artificial intelligence to translate from my mother tongue, Czech. I would be quite interested to know how comprehensible or funny my translation into English is for the reader.
Thank you for reading and for any support.