When you say a - "1652/41 spanish 8 man" - I assume you mean an 8 maravedis ?? This is one I do not recognize - even the underlying design does not look familiar. Do you know who countermarked it ?
I have no clue at all, here is what WAS written on the 2x2 ( thought the Mar on the 2x2 said Man lol ) 1652 /1641 Spain counter Mark On the bottom left hand corner it says 41
Well it's severly corroded at any rate - so that will definitely affect any value it may have. But I can't find anything that looks even remotely like it and I've turned it every which way trying to make out the design. I'll send the pic to a friend of mine who's THE expert on this stuff and see what he says.
Got you an answer Here is the reply I received to my request - The ordinary cob coin I can identify and attribute sometimes - but with several countermarks - frankly I'm lost. Luckily I know the right person to ask So there ya have it
Nice, i'll have to add that info on the 2x2 for future referance, thanks a bunch GD , I really do appreciate it, as far as the grade... I guess i'll just mark it as Fine or something, does that sound accurate enough? Dunno...
With countermarked coins it is common to use 2 grades - 1 for the original con and 1 for the countermark. I'd go AG/VF if it were me.
Wow, that is very very odd, does this apply to ALL countermarked coins? I've got a couple that have countermarks, could you explain the simpleist way of determining the grade of the countermark ? Perhaps the clarity of the countermark over the grade of the coin?
Grading is pretty much grading - you estimate a grade for the host coin first and then do the same for the countermark. The same principles apply to both. But there are countermarks and then there are countermarks. Some countermarks can be as simple as a cricle or a square stamped into a coin. Others can have quite intricate designs like the coin you have. In fact your coin has several countermarks one of top of the other. With the more plain countermarks there is nothing to grade really. But for those with a design - like say the Spanish colonial 8 reales with the head of King George stamped into the bust of Carlos IIII or Fredinand VII, you have two different designs to grade.
