Counterstamped 8 Reales Coin

Morning all,

I've come across this wonderful counterstamped 8 Reales Coin but I'm struggling to work out where it's from precisely. Presumably from somewhere in South America I've attached photos below. Coin has been tested and is silver weighs 27g and measures 4cm in diameter. Dated 1791 with the name of Carolus IIII. Small oval counterstamp of presumably another king. The reverse has what appears to be an overlapped TPS 8R. P.R

Any help much appreciated

 

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The mintmark logo is PTS which signifies Bolivia, so possibly one like this
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces26228.html
The counterstamp I have no idea

 

The counterstamp is for King Charles III of England. There was a shortage of coins in circulation in England in the late 1790s, and the mint at the Tower of London was woefully inadequate. The quick solution was to counterstamp crown sized coins with a bust of the king. The initial value was set at 4 shillings and 8 pence.

The British people didn’t give the pieces a warm reception. This limerick summed up the view of many: (Not quite the right wording)

“To get their coins to pass, the mint stamped the head of a fool on the neck of an ass.”

Another comment

“Two heads, but not a crown.” (A crown was worth 5 shillings.)

This was done again in 1804, this time with a larger counterstamp that was taken from the Maundy penny. This time the value was set at 5 shillings.

These counterstamps were placed on other coins including, rarely, the U.S. Bust Dollar.

 

As a follow up, the small counterstamps were rather widely counterfeited sometimes on counterfeit coins. The larger counterstamps were used to combat that problem. Later, in 1804 and for years after, the mint overstruck British the Spanish coins with Bank of England dies. Some these coins have undertype showing from host coin.

 

I agree with everything @johnmilton said. Here is an example of the 1804 Bank of England Dollar/Token that was overstruck on a Spanish 8 Reales.

 

Always learning something new. Thanks @johnmilton

 

The octagonal stamp with George III’s effigy are much rarer. But counterfeits exist.
It’s good to have pirates on the payroll.

 

What does that say? @UpGrayedd


I can't quite make out the upper three letters.
Is that PIT OUT 18 1877?
I can't find my glass's to fully tell.

 

PIT OCT 18 1877, I'm not sure what "PIT" represents, but I assume "OCT 18 1877" represents October 18, 1877.

 

Here are pictures of the counterstamped 8 reale pieces.

The small counterstamp



The large counterstamp. These pieces are scarcer than the smaller marked pieces.



Here is a close-up photo of the large counterstamp.



This image of George III was taken from the 1800 Maundy penny.

 

Thank you all. Great info all round.