Cut,counterstamped, & Holed Spanish & Spanish-American coins.

Here's a section for those who are interested in the cut,counterstamped, & holed Spanish & Spanish-American coins.Some famous examples of holed coins in this catagory are the New South Wales & Prince Edward Island 'Holey Dollars',which were issued in 1813 at
a rate of 5/-.The most well-known examples of cut coins are the official Tortola government cut coins & the private 'Tirtila' cut coins.Various merchants in Scotland issued counterstamped dollars at values such as 4/9,5/-,& 5/6.The Castle Comer Colliery in Ireland issued a counterstamped dollar at a value of 5/5.Of course,Great Britain had the counterstamped dollars of 4/9 & the 1/2 dollars at 2/2-1/2.This led the the expression,'The head of a fool on the neck of an ass'.

 

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Actually, the saying (in relation to the counterstamped coinage goes like this:-

"The Bank, to make the money pass
Stamped the head of a fool with the head of an ass."

and looks like this:-




Don't forget the role of `overstruck' coins though.

The only coin to legally circulate in Britain which carried the word `dollar' on it was the Bank of England 5/- coin of 1804. It is strictly speaking a token issued by the Bank during the `madness of King George'. This one has an endearing (not!) bankers mark strategically placed where it isn't too obvious...right on his cheek. :-(




Note the not so endearing bankers mark strategically placed where it isn't too obvious...right on his cheek. :-(




http://www.imb4u2.myby.co.uk/stuff/1804Obv.jpg
http://www.imb4u2.myby.co.uk/stuff/1804Rev.jpg

All three of these use spanish colonials as the `host' coin. If you look closely at the legends of the 2nd and 3rd you will see traces of the host coin legends remaining.

 

Ian,I hope that Irish 6/- piece is not a dud one like I was landed with a few years ago.I have never seen a forgery of a Bank of England $1.As to the supposed 'madness' of King George III,the Regency began in 1811.Recent evidence has shown that King
George III was not mad,but he was suffering from porphyria,which is a hereditary illness.I can guess that it came down through from the Stuart line.King George III was directly descended from Mary,Queen of Scots,which I am sure,being a Scot,you are very well aware of.

 

All three coins shown are indeed genuine. I had two of the Irish 6/- pieces at one stage but gave one to a friend in Michigan. I've also got a fake 5/- though, which I can scan if you want to see one.

The `madness of King George' was certainly as a result of porphyria. Knowing the cause as we know now is one thing, the net effect however at the time was `madness'. The only difference is that we can treat porphyria. We couldn't back then (or at least didn't know how).

A good book I use a lot (in relation mainly in tracing the lineages of the households of the German States) is `Lines of Succession - Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe' by Louda and Maclagan (Barnes and Noble Books, 2002 edition). Excellent.