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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;BRandM, post: 1305752, member: 22729&quot;][ATTACH]146698.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]146699.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p>I bought this counterstamp from the same collector I acquired the hunger striker stamps from. This piece was issued by the South Armagh Brigade of the IRA, the most efficient, ruthless, and most feared IRA unit by the British and RUC security forces in Northern Ireland. The IRA was organized much like a regular military unit with similiar command structures. For most of their history they had five brigades in the &quot;war zone&quot; of the Northern Ireland counties and the northern border counties within the Irish Republic. They were in Armagh, Belfast, Derry, Donegal, and Tyrone/Monaghan. The Armagh Brigade had three battalions, two very active ones in South Armagh and one less active in North Armagh. They were generally known as the South Armagh Brigade for this reason. It&#039;s uncertain who actually counterstamped these coins, but they were issued either by the IRA or by their sympathizers for propaganda purposes.</p><p>This particular English 50p coin was bought from a pub owner in Bessbrook, South Armagh in July, 1971 by the father of the collector I bought it from. In his notes he stated that the man who sold it to him was suspicious of his interest in the coin, but couldn&#039;t turn down the money offered. He noted that he bought the coin and &quot;left quickly and continued on&quot;. The IRA had a real fear of infiltrators into their ranks and were suspicious of anything at all out of the ordinary.</p><p><br /></p><p>Bruce[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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