Post your chopmarked/counter stamped coins!

Hope I'm like you two @BRandM and @ExoMan when I grow up...

 

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Thanks there, Sonny ...

 

No, I just thought the dialog between you two was pretty cool!

 

I agree with ExoMan. I got my first in 1976. Been having loads of fun ever since.

Bruce

 

You'd do well to be like ExoMan Jack, but like ME...Probably not.

Bruce

 

Thanks! I know the magic of collecting. I always find myself drawn to different coins and I like the unique ones that always pop up randomly.

 

I know the grade isn't fantastic a but they are pretty scarce. Jamaica 10 pence

 

I also have a Tobago black dog on its way and have a countermarked British trade dollar !

 

Nice counterstamp Mark. Looking forward to seeing the others.

Bruce

 

Here's the other two, again the dog is a bit worn but is to be expected given the extent to which these coins circulated even before they were counterstamped and afterwards.


And my beloved chop marked dollar


There's something about these dollars that I particularly love and it has to be the fact that we (Great Britain) had the power and influence to make coins such as this that were willingly accepted in countries that didn't even fall under our flag.

 

Nice pieces Mark! I especially like the chopmarked Dollar...An impressive coin for sure. I don't collect chops but have thought many times about starting a collection of them. Unfortunately, not enough money to put into it. Do you have others?

Bruce

 

It's not something that I collect exclusively, I actually collect coins from across the empire.
If you're interested in some of them take a look at : the British are coming thread. I go further into it than some by collecting anything that fell under our crown no matter how briefly its stay was. The only other coins I have that's stamped still puzzles me to this day but is in my collection a George III Brunswick- Luneburg - Hannover 1 Pfenning.

And an anguilla Liberty dollar

 

I much appreciate seeing these countermarks. As I pretty much focus on the American merchant counterstamps, I'd sure welcome learning some of the history behind these others from around the globe.

 

Basically, for the westindian countermarked coins they were done because they were to exclusively circulate there because of the shortage of change. Hence using french West Indies coins as a host in the case of the ToB one, the GR Reale (ten pence) was ordered from the Spanish then Countermarked. The liberty dollar never truly circulated but had a value to trade for so is accepted it was more of a political piece though. And finally the trade dollar much like any of the 8 reales or similar were chopped to prove authenticity. Sometimes by banks and others by merchants, who would accept these pieces back after marking it.
Again I really have no idea why someone stamped a sun onto the Pfenning though :S

 

I've seen the small "sun" mark, in different variations, many times. Unfortunately, I don't know the meaning of it...Perhaps, just a decoration? As ExoMan, I collect mostly U.S. stamps, with the exception of Irish political pieces from the Troubles (1969 / 1998) and before. I've done extensive research on those and have even been keeping a census of known examples...By slogan/acronym, date, type of coin, etc. I did start a thread on them several years ago, but got little response and, subsequently, stopped posting on it.

Even though your Anguilla stamp is fairly common, they have a certain appeal to them, and always command decent money when they appear at auction or in dealer's cases. I don't presently have one in my collection, but may pick one up some day. Thanks for posting Mark.

Bruce

 

No problem Bruce, I got a stamped 10p out of a vending machine once when I was younger and threw it away I wanted nothing to do with a terrorist organisation by keeping it. I can see the appeal others have but as you can imagine being young growing up with that violence and bad feeling especially in the late 90's for me patriotism prevailed ha !

 

There's nothing pretty about these coins or their messages, but they do represent a brutal period in the UK and Ireland that's a part of history. I made some good friends over the past few years as a result of my research. There's one in particular who grew up in Belfast and vividly remembers the violence, hunger strikes, bombings, and almost daily acts of terror he witnessed first as a child, and then while growing up. The stories are hair raising making an "outsider" like myself wonder how anyone can deal with that on an almost daily basis. When I asked him that question, he simply said "That's all I knew. It seemed normal to me"...So very sad!

Bruce

 

Indeed, I remember my parents being worried to go to our local shopping mall because it was constantly under threat. My uncle worked in Belfast in the 80's at harland and Wolff shipyards and told me some stories of being in a taxi and armoured land rovers pulling infront and blocking the road and seeing the gunfire.
It's definitely an interesting period but one I'm not keen on seeing again any time soon !

 

Thanks for the history lesson, Mark. That breathes life into the counterstamps.