[Game] World Coins Time Machine… Counting Backward by Year! (Plus Prize Coin)

1815 Netherland Indies duit. The H mintmark indicates it was minted in Amsterdam.

 

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86 pages and I've been too slow to jump in... I've got to leap when I have this chance -- marginal photography be danged. While perusing the last several posts I look down at my desk and <shazaaam> I've got an 1814 looking up at me.

1814, Antwerp, 10 centimes. KM#5.4 as I recall.

Whew... I think I made it in.

 

This was one of my first and the coin that got me hooked on toned Mexico 8 Reales. It's a crude issue from the War of Independence period in Mexico, struck at the Guadalajara provisional mint.



This one is regular Mexico City issue:



And these two are super rarities and key dates for the Mexico portrait 8 Reales series. 1814/3 over-dates with HJ assayer initials. I was lucky enough to first acquire one at the Jose Leunda sale and added the second one this year.

 

The previous Antwerp coin is nicer than mine. It's a neat coin though as it was produced during a siege, at least that's how I understand it.

 

Great Britain, Richard Hurd halfpenny token, 8.42g. Richard Hurd tokens were circulated in the British colony of Lower Canada (today's southern Quebec), but apparently not this variety.

Engrailed edge

Charlton in his Standard Catalog of Canadian Colonial Tokens identifies 3 denominations of Richard Hurd tokens, penny, halfpenny, and farthing (all of the same design). Charlton writes: Thomas Holliday designed this series of tokens for use in England. The farthing and penny did not circulate in Canada. … Of the halfpenny denomination only the plain edge, light weight specimens were imported by Richard Hurd, a Montreal merchant, for use in Canada.

This halfpenny token is the heavy variety (8.5g nom vs 5.5g), and has an engrailed edge, rather than the plain edge. Therefore it would have been circulated in Great Britain, not Canada.

Interestingly, it seems Hurd, a Canadian merchant, was selling tokens in Great Britain for profit. The British standard weight at the time was 9g copper for the halfpenny. A standard that was in effect from 1806 through the 1860’s. The British standard 9g copper/halfpenny was minted at less than intrinsic value, which left room for profit.

 

Very interesting coin and great write up on its history, thanks!

 

Thanks for the feedback Coin-nut.

I bought this coin in 1991 at a coin show in the USA, and it was part of my small Canadian Token collection. I didn't realize until yesterday, when I looked it up in my (newer) Canadian token catalog that it did not circulate in Canada. Must have came to the USA by way of collectors. Charlton says that after 1870 the non-Canadian versions of the RH token were imported into Canada (and I assume USA) by collectors.

 

1814

 

Before I head off to work....

My two 1814 examples

Kingdom of Italy AV 40 Lire 1814-M Milan mint
Napoleon I King of Italy ex: Raineri AG

Brunswick-Luneberg AV 10 Thaler 1814 Claustal Mint
George III King of Great Britain/ Hannover/ Brunsweig-Luneberg ex:Kunker

 

S P A I N.
1814.

 

D E N M A R K.
1814.

 

Spain again.

 

are we ready for 1813? I only have 2 so far

 

Russia and Swiss Canton of Vaud.

 

Essequibo and Demarary, one stiver minted at the Tower Hill Mint, London with steam powered presses.


From http://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins?main_coin=17639

The country we call Guyana today was originally three Dutch colonies: from west to east, they were Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice, named after the rivers which ran through them. For several years control of the area alternated between the Netherlands and Great Britain, with influence from France. Finally, in 1814, the Dutch formally ceded the colonies to Britain, in exchange for having Dutch Guiana returned to it. This history is reflected in this coinage: in 1813, the British are firmly in control and the British king's portrait appears on the obverse of 'stiver' coinage, while the denomination 'stuiver' had been used by the Netherlands for centuries.

In 1813 Essequibo and Demerary issued one stiver and half stiver copper coins.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiver

The word stiver is derived from the Dutch Stuiver. It was a currency denomination in use in Ceylon from 1801 until 1821. It was also a denomination that formed part of the currency system of Demerara-Essequibo (later British Guiana, now Guyana).

 

Insurgent copper 8 reales of the Mexican War of Independence.


The “Mo” on the reverse is the monogram of General Jose Morelos, who in 1810 organized and led the southern army of the insurgency, by request of Miguel Hidalgo, the father of the revolution. After Hidalgo’s execution in 1811, Morelos would eventually lead the insurgency until his capture and execution in 1815.

The SUD on the obverse means “south” in Spanish.

In his book Numismatic History of Mexico, Alberto Francisco Pradeau quotes a letter written by Morelos in August 1811: "Finding myself without funds; with the Treasury in debt some thousands of pesos caused by the demands of so many voracious commission holders, I decided to stamp copper coins which will serve as promissory notes. Thus the poor and the rich will be lending us the much needed funds with which to carry on. …“

 

1813

 

Here's a more common 1813-JJ assayer combination for this year. Still hunting the more elusive 1813-HJ.