An 8 reales cob, Potosi, (162)9 T, with an ancient symbol chopmark, now associated with hate

This very dark salvaged cob came to me by that vast market for coins, the wild west so to speak, eBay, last month. As these coins go it is pretty typical of a coin that has been immersed in water (not sure whether fresh or salt) for hundreds of years. While it is very dark, the weight is not bad, at 26.77 grams, the strike respectable for this period and mint.

What is of interest, and the main reason I acquired it, is the chopmark on the cross side, upper left quadrant, in a area of flat strike. The chopmark is in fact a swastika, an ancient symbol often associated with eastern religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. Of course this symbol was adopted by the Nazi Party in the 1920s and as such became the symbol for war, hate and genocide.

It is not nearly as frequent to find chopmarks on cob coinage. Machine struck milled coins that circulated extensively in the East are much more common.

Potos,i 8 reales, Philip IV, (162)9, assayer T (Juan Ximenez de Tapia).
Paoletti 182; KM 19.a
26.77 grams





So, please feel free to post your chopmarked coins, 8 reales, or anything else.

Thanks

 

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Great looking coin, even with the counter. Congrats.

 

Why is it raised? I was under the impression chop marks were cut into coins by Chinese merchants who accepted the coins.

 

In Hinduism, the right-facing symbol (clockwise) (卐) is called swastika, symbolizing surya ('sun'), prosperity and good luck, while the left-facing symbol (counter-clockwise) (卍) is called sauwastika, symbolising night or tantric aspects of Kali

 

I love these old Cobs. It was this particular Cob from my collection that led me to CoinTalk.

 

It now has a connection to Odin.

https://www.businessinsider.com/a-g...est-known-reference-odin-valhalla-2023-3?op=1

 

Chopmarks are countermarks administered with very small dies by hammering the merchant's mark into the coin. The types of chopmarks vary from incised characters, that is a negative impression of the raised character of the die, such as the one on this coin, to more elaborate designs with characters or symbols within a field, giving the chopmark an incused appearance. Collecting chopmark varieties is a field of its own and there is at least one book on them, probably more.

 

Thankyou for your reply. I'm afraid I don't get why someone would raise a chopmark. Seems like punching into it would be easier than trying to raise metal on a hardened coin. Unless they were just trying to be "artsy-fartsy" with their marks?

 

Chopmarks are punched into the coin. They are part of a practice that goes back thousands of years, as a main method of verifying that a coin meets certain weight and/or fineness standards. The slight ridges along the symbol are caused by metal being slightly displaced by the striking. These chopmarks were administered to coins without any heating; the merchants, traders and bankers had better things to do with their time no doubt.

I think the "raised" impression might be caused by thinking that the dark lines are above the surface of the coin, when in fact they are depressions. I've experienced that trick of perception sometimes when I look a coins that have strong light and dark contrast and it often takes me time to readjust. If you look at the enlargement of the symbol you can see some tiny deposits at the bottom of the left arm, do doubt due to the coin spending a very long time in water and buried in mud.

 

Thankyou again. I thought the swastika was raised. That's what was killing me.

 

That was rather my understanding as well. A chop mark is a merchants way of verifying the piece being handed to him for his wares…. I know that in the 19th century some American merchants would counter stamp coins as a form early advertising. Did early chop marks do double duty as a means of advertisement per se?

 

Perhaps. I think that the primary reason for their existence was to let other merchants, bankers and other individuals that by placing a character or symbol associated with an individual, that individual was placing his or her mark of approval of the coin's weight or fineness. It is not unusual to find coins with multiple chopmarks, sometime to the point of nearly obliterating the coin's design.

Countermarks to go back to times of antiquity, as shown with this tetradrachm from the late 5th to mid 4th century BC. In the case of this countermark, the purpose might have been to authorize the coin to circulate in a certain city or region by a local authority - just a theory.

Athens, eastern imitation owl, Aramaic "taw" (t) countermark possible.
16.55 grams