Hey guys, I've just picked this up but I'm a little dubious of it given the fact it's got chops on it as I've not seen another with them. Does anyone have any experience with these that could help me out a little as I'm not so clued up on Spanish coins of the BoE countermarks come to think of it !
What you have is a Bank of England 1797 Dollar (4 Shillings 9 Pence-5 Shillings) KM# 632. It has the Type I countermark on a 1773 Mexico 8 Reales (KM#106). Weight was 27.0674, given some wear yours is not that far off. 0.9030 Silver, 0.7858 ASW. These were struck on Mexico coinage dated 1772-1789. Any silver coin circulating in China during that time frame was subject to chop marks and the 8 Reales certainly circulated in China.
Thanks mate, do you have a source where you find the info on the countermarks ? It's a little embarrassing to be fair considering I'm British and have been collecting British colonies for years. I must say though that I have spent much more time researching the colonies than my homeland !
When I saw it opening this posting I was more worried about the C/S, not the chops; the host coin and chops are most certainly real and not uncommon on 8 reales. There were many made up c/stamps applied in the 60's. I would certainly place the coin in my collection. Make sure your holder states the c/s is a fake so those that come after you.
That's what I meant by the fact the coins would have normally been tied up in China when the bank was countermarking them leading me too believe something could be counterfeit.
