Forgive me if I am telling everyone something they already know but I just spotted this auction coming up here in the UK. "The Lyall Collection of Cut and Countermarked Coins". I know some members have expressed a big interest in this area before, but I can't remember who. https://www.dnw.co.uk/auctions/auction.php?auction_id=490 Dix Noonan & Webb are one of the top Coin auction houses in the UK and they know what they are talking about.
I clicked the link, looked at the highlights and then immediately closed it. Very, very cool stuff, but way too rich for my blood. Thanks for sharing for those who collect this realm.
I am no expert to state absolutely, but I would have said so. The intention is to give additional information over and above what was put on the original coin, or to change its value or usage... I think Mr Lyall focused primarily on the coins of the early West Indies settlements, and appears to have had a particular interest in the history of slavery. The last few lots are all anti-slavery medals and medallions.
I feel my personal Type Set needs both a "clean" Trade Dollar AND a chopmarked one, even better with several of them.
Technically, they're countermarks / counterstamps, but chopmarks are a speciality in their own right. I collect counterstamps, but not chopmarks. I know very little about them, nor do I have much interest in them. A cool "branch" of exonumia, neverthe less. Bruce
Thanks for the heads up, Paddy. Although I have an extensive collection of Irish and UK counterstamps, my main interest is in U.S. issues...mostly 19th century. I never bid on a Dix Noonan & Webb auction lot, but have acquired some coins over the years that had provenance to them. They are prominent as you say...highly regarded. Bruce
Is there a difference between a countermark and a counterstamp? To me the difference between a counterstamp and a chopmark is clear: a counterstamp is an official government action and is thus desirable and collectible (although it is not something that I collect). A chopmark is essentially graffiti and is damaged in my opinion.
A countermark is something struck on a coin by a governmental entity for any number of reasons...change of value, to authenticate usage in a colony or protectorate, to legitimize it, etc. Counterstamps are mostly private issues of merchants, individuals, organizations, and others. Practically, the distinction isn't often made. The guru of the genre, Greg Brunk, calls everything a countermark. On the other hand, I refer to them all as counterstamps. To many collectors, the terms are interchangeable. Bruce
So under the one you gave us ^^^ then chopmarks on Trade Dollars would be countermarks, because their purpose IS to legitimize the Trade Dollar as authentic by a Chinese recipient. Cool.
No, because the Chinese merchants were private entities, not government entities. Maybe we should just call them "little squiggly things" and be done with it, Kurt. lol! Cheers, Bruce
That is an amazing collection. I have always liked the Spanish colonial c/m issues for the Caribbean. I only have this one: Lima 1 real 1757 countermarked by the British authorities with floriate "GR" (Georgius Rex) for circulation in Jamaica. Value of ten pence. .
