Counter stamped coins

[hazelman]

Was at a friends looking through his collection - he appears to have a large amount of counter stamped Victorian pennies.

However besides love tokens he was not able to explain why so many coins have counter stamps - so ive come to the experts who im certain can inform me as to why coins have been counter stamped

[copper123]

Many Victorian coins were counter stamped as advertising pieces it is rarer to find uk coinage that is counter stamped as it was more often done on french or Spanish penny sized coins that often circulated in the uk along with our own currency .

These i must admit are common finds uk stuff is rarer as is was considered bad taste to ruin coins of the uk.

Halfpennies of george the third 170-1775 are often counterstamped to weed out the forgeries (most people were illiterate and totally unable to tell if coinage was real or not , so many were coutamped as a warning not to take them

Edited February 28, 2015 by copper123

[hazelman]

Copper,

Some interesting information especially around the need to counter stamp due to illiteracy.

Yes he did have 1 with pears soap not a penny though trying to remember what is was

[copper123]

Might have been a cartwheel penny - i have seen several of these counterstamped - always very worn ones though..

[Coinery]

Here's one by Colin Cooke! A little sideline of Neil's, possibly?

201295829365

[Nick]

Here's one by Colin Cooke! A little sideline of Neil's, possibly?

201295829365

Link added.

[Coinery]

Thank-you!

[VickySilver]

There are some Brit coins with Costa Rica lion ?? counterstamps - I have an 1843 shilling with one somewhere...

[ChKy]

Copper,

Some interesting information especially around the need to counter stamp due to illiteracy.

Yes he did have 1 with pears soap not a penny though trying to remember what is was

Do you mean one of those?

[copper123]

Yes that is one of the french coins i was refering too that are more often counterstamped than the english coinage.

I am not sure if there was a law that stated the king (or queens) coin should not be defaced back them but I am sure this never applied to foreign coin (which would mostly circulate in london bristol or hull and liverpool) I would presume.

I would also presume that the populace would also find english coins that are defaced , to say the least,objectionable and at the worst unacceptable

Edited March 1, 2015 by copper123

[Bronze & Copper Collector]

I have a Lloyds post counterstamped copper halfpenny and a few others....

I'll try to post sometime later this week when I get home... If I have the chance.....

[hazelman]

Thanks Chky - thats the one.

wonder why they would have the Costa Rica Lion stamp - any idea VickySilver

[copper123]

Early advert for Lion bars?

[VickySilver]

Post Independent Costa Rica (1839-1857) whilst under the reale/escudo system saw shortages of coin and foreign coins considered of good weight and metal content were stamped. This included GB sixpences and shillings - I think the shilling was considered the equivalent of 2 reales, or a quarter of the "piece of eight"/dollar/peso.

See Baldwin Sale NYINC 7 January, 2015: Lots 1074 & 1075 for examples of 6d and shilling

Edited March 3, 2015 by VickySilver

[Geordie582]

Here's a 1834 sixpence I have. I think I asked on this site a couple of years ago if anyone knows the reason/originator. It appears to be MAB interlinked.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Geordie582