What's the denomination of the Mad King George piece, that may have been circulating here in the Colonies during the unpleasantness between us and the Mother Country. Silver I presume.
Gosh, there were a lot of them in the colonies during, before, and after the War for Independence, 2 pence, 3 pence, halfpennies, etc. Bone
Roy - Are you asking about the Spanish colonial piece with the King George countermark ? It was an 8 reales. Nice coins Bone
I'll be darned. I thought the King George obverse and the same-sized pillar reverse were two different coins. I don't consider a day successful if I don't learn anything, so this one was definitely a success before noon. I don't see any sign of the original coin in the picture of the obverse. When was that type of overstrike done, and why?
Now I'm a bit confused - exactly which coin in this thread are you referring to ? Gimme a sec and I'll find a pic of the countermarked coin for you - and some history to go with it
OK - here's a couple of examples of an 8 reales with the King George countermark - Link 1 Link 2 Now then, the Brits decided to do this because the coins were circulating in England and widely being accepted as equal value for British coins of similar weight. But the silver finess in the Spanish coins was slightly less than that of British coins - and the King didn't much like them being used in his country either. So - the countermark. The coins value was also decreased in Britain. The saying in use at the time about these coins was - "the head of a fool on the neck of an ass ".
My original comment was directed at the smaller coin in Bonedigger's second post. The first photo shows what appears to be an ordinary George III coin dated 1794, with no countermark visible to me. The second photo shows what appears to be an ordinary Hispanic pillar reverse, also with no countermark that I can see. I originally assumed that they were different coins, and after reading Doug's first post I assumed that somehow the George III obverse had been stamped over a Charles IV coin. But both of Doug's links show Charles IV obverses with a center-punch countermark. Whasssup?
I see where the confusion lies now - you thought that coin had the bust of George III - it doesn't - that's Charles III of Spain. ( assuming you miss-typed the date as 1794 when you meant 1774 ). I probably added to the confusion because when you mentioned George III I assumed you were asking about the countermarked coins.
Mind if I borrow that foot-in-mouth icon Doug? The guy had a big enough schnozola and a weak enough chin to be George, and with the "us III" on the legend, and a dirty pair of glasses, I took the thread down a dead end path. Sorry about that.
Well, the Monogram Reale (1711) was minted just after this poor fellow met his maker. King Carlos II of Spain/Austria. Now he had some issues... http://www.xs4all.nl/~kvenjb/madmonarchs/carlos2/carlos2_bio.htm Bone
The 1711 coin was struck during the reign of King Carlos III.As we all know,the death of King Carlos II of Spain sparked off the War of the Spanish Succession between Austria (who claimed the rights to the Spanish Empire as King Carlos II was a member of the Hapsburgs),& France (whose King,Louis XV was fighting to assert his grandson's claim).In the end,France won,& the Duc de Anjou became King Philip V (Rey Filipe V),who established the Spanish Bourbon dynasty,which still rules Spain today in the person of His Majesty,King Juan Carlos I. Aidan.
A minor ooops in the history - it was Louis XIIII's grandson that became Philip V, King of Spain. He wasn't much of a king really, his wife wore the pants in the family - and she pretty much made all the decisions. At least those that weren't made by grandpa
