Counterstamped 1806 Half Dollar

This is driving me crazy... I have seen this counterstamp before... I can't remember where...

Is anyone familiar with it?

 

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YES, I have seen I before.

On another Bust $1/2.

I may have one.

I have to check, but a later date.

 

O-108


Yeah, I know!

Take it out of the holder before you take a picture.

But, this is an oldie, I can't find the ones from 'au natural' state, ie without holder.

 

Yeah it's called damage.

 

I was thinking that I had seen this before... I was thinking it was siam... or one of those countries in that area.

 

Siamese countermarked dollars were of certain siamese symbols, not just scattered punches. If you ever see one for sale, (by you or just at a show), please let me know. They are very rare, and usually on Mexican coinage.

 

There is a lattice countermark from Cuba, but that's too late to appear on this coin. I'd also point out that the mark on Treashunt's coin is different.

 

That's the countermark I was thinking of... Cuba... I just couldn't remember when they were doing them.

 

1841, on two and four reales from Spain, usually Madrid.

 

Just doing a little digging... I have seen lots of these countermarks on earlier host coins. Some have the dot in center, others are just the lattice.

For example: http://www.icollector.com/Cuba-Trin...mark-1841-on-a-Seville-Spain-bust-2_i10431663

Is it possibile that that is what my piece is? I'd think it's comparable to a 4 reale.

 

KM lists hosts from the 1780's to the 1830's. But the 2 and 4 reales are all smaller than your coin. I assume it's a half, correct?

 

It is a half, yes.

 

I'm pretty sure it isn't the 1841 Cuban stamp then. But I could be wrong - this isn't really my area.

 

I thought our half dollars were just slightly heavier that 4 reales. So, it could fit. I only remember this because I remember our dollars disappeared because they were slightly heavier than 8 reales, but traded at par in the US. So, people imported 8 reales, traded them for dollars, exported the dollars to exchange for slightly more 8 reales overseas, rinse and repeat. This is why we stopped producing dollars in 1804 for a while.

 

Again, this is off the top of my head, so I could be wrong, but these are 2 and 4 reales from mainland Spain, which (if I recall) had a different weight standard than the New World colonies.

 

I've seen Frank's counterstamp a few times before, but not Matt's. Some of these odd marks are made from some sort of worker's tool, but I don't know if that's the case with either one of these. There's probably more purpose to these two than just a random mark.

Bruce

 

The Cuban countermark is completely different.

 

Not the billon series, which are the 4 reales that were countermarked in Cuba. See KM 562.3, weight 5.4 grams.