I picked up this nice Philadelphia counterstamp on E-bay a week or so ago and thought it would interest some of you because of the history behind it and the nice combination of lettering and graphics. For some reason counterstamps from Philly draw a lot of interest from collectors, and when they come up for bid always bring decent money. They usually sell for from $300 to $500 or more. One example on an 1807 Draped Bust Quarter sold for $690 in September, 2010, but that's probably high because of its provenance (Roy Van Ormer / Anthony Terranova) and the host coin it's stamped on. Though scarce, these pieces aren't considered rare as there are about 20 examples known. All but a few are on Spanish 2-Reales like this one. All of the examples I've seen are on heavily worn coins. The latest date is 1838, but a large majority date from the 1770's to about 1810. Despite the wear, the stamps are generally well struck as they probably weren't applied until the 1840's. These large Spanish coins were plentiful well into the 1850's and because of their size were perfect for applying counterstamps to. The heavily worn ones were chosen especially as the counterstamp didn't have to compete with the coin's design to be read. One characteristic of my example is the broken "F" in "Flanagan's". I've seen other examples with this broken die before, but don't know if they're all like this or not. Robert Flanagan ran the Lyon's Hotel in Philadelphia from about 1835 until 1860. The 112 N. 6th St. address changed to 159 N. 6th St. in 1858 when city streets were renumbered, so these coins wouldn't have been stamped after that date. Interestingly,159 N. 6th St. is now part of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank complex. Flanagan had a bar in his establishment called Vulcan Hall that, apparently, offered Flanagan's Punch as it's speciality drink. I'd love to know what was in it, but whatever it was made from I'll bet it would have grown hair on a hairless cat. The advertisement for Lyons Hotel appeared in the 1835 Philadelphia City directory. Comments are welcome and as always thanks for looking. Bruce
Cool counterstamp and background. I really do think that the work collectors in your field is the best numismatic research being done on US coinage nowadays. Every time you post it makes me think about looking into these. Then, I think, "aw, they are just a couple of hundred years old, they are just little baby coins". J/K. Chris
Thanks for the comments guys. I love the research on these more than anything Chris. Although the Flanagan counterstamps have been researched in the past, i did a bit of digging myself after I got the coin. During the research I came upon a bottle collector's site that had a discussion of his glass containers. I don't know if he bottled his "elixir" or some other concotion, but there are bottles with his name on it. The funny part was they were examining the type of bottles showing on his bar shelves in the advertisement. While I was looking into his counterstamps they were only interested in his bottle "collection." Interesting and fun stuff. Bruce
That has to be one of the coolest looking C/S's I've ever seen, and the history lesson is a great read. Kudos Bruce!
Bruce, you know that, just like Colonial collectors, the type of collecting you are doing is a lot more like ancient collecting than traditional US collecting, right? Maybe we can make a convert of you yet, or at least get you interested... Chris
Thanks Numismat, this is one I've wanted for a long while. I saw it on E-bay just a bit before Christmas and put a strong bid in for it. I feel lucky that I won it even though I was agressive in my bid. I've been outbid before for some stamps I really wanted and was determined to win this one. This was my Christmas gift to myself...from me to me. Bruce
I do like ancients Chris, and I've thought about picking up a few countermarked Romans, but don't know anything about them. Do you know if there are any references out there where a noobie ancient collector can learn about the countermarked issues. Do you have any in your collection? I always check them out on E-bay but I don't really know what I'm looking at so don't bid on them. Geez Chris, I just glanced up at your avatar and it scared the bejesus out of me. Thought it was my wife checking out my thread to see how much I paid for the Flanagan. Bruce
There are books on Roman countermarks. Howgego I believe has a good one. They can be pricey though, its out of print. We cannot trace them to stores like you, but many people have researched them and they are just as fascinating as yours. Sometimes done to retariff coins, other times marked as legionary coins, etc.
Thanks for the info Chris. The legionary countermarks sound interesting, but right now I'll stick with my counterstamps, coin related stuff, and obsolete currency. Bruce
Here's a nice companion piece to my counterstamp. I picked this up at a small show in Burlington over the weekend. This is actually considered a Civil War token, even though it was struck sometime in the mid to late 1850's, a few years before the war started. It was listed as such before the full history of the token was known, so has remained listed as a Civil War issue. It's an R-2, copper, plain edge and designated PA-750-J1A1 by Fuld and PA 164B by Rulau. There are two other varieties, one with a reeded edge (R-8) and a thick planchet variety. I like to find companion pieces for my tokens and obsoletes if any exist. This one's a nice addition to my collection. Thanks for looking. Bruce
I imagine that the punch would be something like this: http://www.classicmixology.com/punches/scotch_whiskey_punch/1862 Apparently, Philadelphia also produced something called Fish House Punch http://imbibemagazine.com/Philadelphia-Fish-House-Punch I'd be curious to find out what Flanagan mixed up too. It probably varied based on whichever bottles he was flush on, and whichever he'd gotten a good deal on lately.
The fish house punch sounds interesting George, but the first "recipe" with the Scotch not so much. You're probably right about Flanagan mixing up whatever he had on hand. His clientele probably weren't too particular about what they drank as long as they got a jolt out of it. Bruce
