A Spanish cob revalued to 600 reis - Brazilian countermark type III of 1663

In colonial Brazil, there was a chronic shortage of silver coins. Gold flowed from the placer deposits in abundance, but silver and even copper, the basis for everyday coins, was in very short supply. Indeed, copper coinage was not produced in Brazil until 1749. There was also rampant inflation. The combination of these two conditions resulted in the importation of foreign silver from mainland Spain and from the Spanish colonies, notably from Potosi, located in the Viceroy of Peru, and the revaluation of these coins to reflect the inflationary trends.

This 8 reales cob was minted in Seville, Spain, in 1600, assayer B. The revaluation countermarks, on the shield and cross sides, place the value of this coin at 600 reis, based on the decree of March 22, 1663. Krause places a lower value on countermarked Spanish cobs, versus cobs from Potosi and elsewhere, so apparently a large shipment of the Spanish cobs were sent by Portugal to Brazil as an augmentation to the cobs circulating in the colony. That's a theory on my part.

This cob is quite remarkable, with two clear countermarks, a legible assayer and mint, and an essentially complete date, with the first "0" a little mushy due to the countermark.

This coin is KM 19.1

27.2 grams



So, please post your revalued coins or any other countermarks of interest.

Thanks

 

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This specimen came from Lord M the counter stamp unknown.

 

That's an interesting counterstamp. It looks like it could be a date or value - there seems to be a number there.

 

There was a major countermarking of all Brazilian circulating copper in 1835, including this coin that started out in 1825 as 80 reis but was revalued at 40 reis:

Note how the countermark is applied neatly to the center, leaving just a slight trace of the underlying value.

 

This one is not well centered which make the original 80 denomination is visible.
This must have been done by hand to some extent for the new number to have the same orientation as the original coin. I have not seen a lot of these
counter marked coin but we are 2 for 2 so far.

 

this might be hard to see but it's struck over an 8 reales

 

From what I have heard Brazil used whatever crown-sized coins they could get to strike these 960 Reis overstrikes. Most were 8 Reales, but other crown sized coins such as British crowns, German thalers, and even a 1799/8 Bust Dollar have been found as host coins.

 

Nice coin! Yes, there was countermarking of copper coins as well, going into the Empire period and beyond. The economy must have been on a roller coaster. The later crown size coins were minted with a value of 2,000 reis.

 

That's a very crisp counterstamp, with some of the original under-coin showing. It is interesting, but not surprising, that the revaluation would go both ways.

 

I like your 960 reis of Rio, 1821. Yes I do see some detail of the original 8 reales. The prices of these coins have gone up quite nicely over the past few years.

I also like your Empire counterstamps. I am not familiar with the different versions. I understand that there are also many private counterstamps as well.

 

Yes, Brazil imported silver coins, primarily crown size from a number of different countries, including the United States, during the Empire. For many years these coins could be purchased at fairly reasonable prices, but over the past few years the prices have shot up, especially for slabbed 960s and 640s.

Tomorrow, I will take some snaps of a couple of 960 reis that have with the original Kurt Prober envelops. A large number of these crowns came on the market about six years ago, apparently from the Prober collection, many with their original envelops.

 

This one is very worn, but you can see how the counterstamps could be all over the place in terms of orientation and centering. I have it in my notes as:
"Brazil 40, reis 1826 B, 20 counterstamp"

 

A pair of 1832 80 Reis with and without 40 stamp.