Trying to discover where a coin was minted and who by.?

Question

Coin is from either 1790 or 1700. Badly weathered but markings still readable.

Above the date is a large V shape, with a circle through each line of the V

On the other side is a crest which is simply a shield with a diagonal line. Animal on either side of shield, possible horse/unicorn.

I have pictures that I can send if it will help.

Answer 1

Sounds like a coin from the Netherlands minted by the United East India Company, whose name in Dutch is "Vereenigte Oostindische Compagnie"   (VOC), and whose monogram strongly resembles your description. The shield on the other side sounds like the coat of arms of the Dutch province of Utrecht. The animals on each side of the shield are lions.

Here's a link to an eBay listing (interestingly, in their US Colonial coin section), for a copper coin that may be like yours. It's dated 1790 and is called a "duit".

http://cgi.ebay.com/1790-Dutch-Copper-Du...

These coins were struck by the VOC in Holland, then shipped out for use in the Dutch East Indies, India, Ceylon and Malacca.

Here's more on the duits:

http://www.educationalcoin.com/deluxe/VO...

(Your coin sounds like the one pictured in the lower left corner of the page you see linked above. The "weathering" you mention could be from exposure to seawater. Many of these pieces were lost at sea, and later salvaged from shipwrecks.)

These coins may have also circulated in the US, especially in New York, which was first settled by the Dutch (1609). The coins were minted in Holland and perhaps came into the US through trade channels. If so, they could have circulated freely for many years until US Mint coinage (which only began in 1793) became plentiful enough to replace them.

More on early American coinage (and the chronic shortage of coinage that would have encouraged circulation of coins like yours) here:

http://www.valuable-coin-stories.com/ear...

and here:

http://www.valuable-coin-stories.com/fir...

Answer 2

Are you sure there's no text other than the V and circles?

A photo would help too.