We have previously posted other coins from Costa Rica & The Republic of Central America. The counter-marked coin depicted here reminds us of the final days of The Republic of Central America. This coin is an 1848 Costa Rica ½ Real which was counter-marked in Costa Rica in 1849. In 1821 & 1823 Costa Rica became independent from Spain & Mexico. At that time, Costa Rica became part of The Republic of Central America. You have probably seen other coins from The Republic of Central America with the mountains & Sun on the obverse and the beautiful tree on the reverse. Here is a better picture depicting the mountains & sun device without any counter-mark on an 8 Real coin: I understand that in 1823, there was hope that the Republic of Central America could copy the recent success of the USA. Unfortunately the new Republic of Central America only lasted about 15 years. In about 1839, Costa Rica left the Republic of Central America. It is strange but Costa Rica continued making coins with the five mountains & tree devices until about 1849. In 1849 Costa Rica counter-marked many of their coins for continued circulation within their country. Now, back to this counter marked coin depicted here. It was made in Costa Rica in 1848 in the style of the coins from the Republic of Central America. I believe that Costa Rica was officially established as its own republic in 1848. The next calendar year 1849, the coin had not yet circulated much (if at all), and it was then counter-marked to circulate within Costa Rica’s borders. Apparently, this particular coin was stashed away soon after the counter-mark because it still has luster everywhere. I gleaned much of this data from my world coin books and the Internet. Of course, I appreciate comments & corrections from the Central American experts at CT. If you have other coins from the Republic of Central America & Costa Rica, please post them. Very best regards, collect89
Nice example. My closest counterstamp is one from Guatemala (1840), which uses the sun-and-volcano symbolism, before Guatemala developed their own distinct national symbols. I posted it recently in this thread: http://www.cointalk.com/t103430/ Below is a modern Costa Rica coin, a 100 colones from 2007, which I pulled from circulation there. It still shows the three volcanos and sun. BCCR stands for Banco Central de Costa Rica.
Hello acanthite, I missed your thread on the counterstamp in April. Here is a Costa Rica counter mark on a Lima 2 Real. I got it from Sedwick coins at the Los Angeles ANA last year. [/FONT][URL="http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/collect89/1848CostaRicaonLima2RLR.jpg%5b/IMG"][COLOR=black][FONT=Times New Roman]http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/collect89/1848CostaRicaonLima2RLR.jpg[/IMG[/FONT][/COLOR][/URL][FONT=Times New Roman]][/FONT][/COLOR] [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]
Yes, that's probably the best Costa Rica counterstamp I've seen on a cob. I remember when you posted that thread, and I remember seeing the coin on Sedwick's table at the show before you bought it. Like the Guatemala c/s, it appears on coins from several different countries.
Very nice examples Collect89, and interesting write-up. I am afraid I cannot contribute to this thread either with examples, or intelligent comments about this beautiful coinage. But, I will say that the both the C/S and the host are among my favourite Latin American coins of the 19th century (alongside Chile's Volcano types, and Peru''s Arequipa and Cuzco Ship and Castle designs). Stacks just auctioned (April 2010) some interesting 1/2 and 1 escudo Republic del Centro de America coins with the Costa Rica countermark. I wish I had been able to bid, but one just cannot have it all.....
