Jump to content
CoinPeople.com

Countermarks on Russian coin


RARENUM

Recommended Posts

I was collecting for long time Russian coins with countermarks.2 kopecks of 1812 I have purchesing on eBay,description was:

"Francois Declos was a barber in Port of Spain, Trinidad; he countermarked half penny sized coins circulating in Trinidad with his initials FD to revalue the coins from the accepted value of half stampee to one stampee. There are at least 18 different stamps known, many being crude. The countermaring was stopped by Law Nr 1 of 12 February 1874 attaching a one year prioson sentence to the practice of defacing coins. The latest dated host coin is from 1872. Fred Pridmore compiled a list of the host coins known with these FD countermarks, updated subsequently by Bob Lyall and Rusell Rulau ( for the US and Canadian pieces mainly ) . It is most interesting to see the wide range of coins that were circulating in Trinidad in the third quarter of the 19th century. I bought the mojority of these FD countermarked tokens as two lots from a Baldwin auction in the mid nineties and added a few specimens later. Most are part of the lists published by Pridmore et al and each are believed to be unique or one of only very few countermarked of one and the same type. The collection was formed by Bill Tankersley, the last one once owing one of the most extensive collection of tokens and tallies of the British Caribbean. Sources : Pridmore, F. : The British Commonwealth of Nations, Part 3 , West Indies / Lyall, Bob : The tokens, checks etc. of the British Caribbean & Bermuda /"

 

Any body has more information or records for other Russian coins with countermarks?

Thanks,Rarenum

PS: will add images today.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The countermaring was stopped by Law Nr 1 of 12 February 1874 attaching a one year prioson sentence to the practice of defacing coins.

 

The fact that it was Law #1 and the stiff sentence stipulated suggests that the counterstamping was viewed as a matter of some urgency by the authorities in Trinidad.

 

What I don't understand is why this was a source of concern or how this somehow raised the value of the coins. To raise the value, it would have to be either by fiat (which a barber would not seem able to enforce) or else by the barber acting as a guarantor of that new value.

 

While the practice of countermarking their coins might be an annoyance to the governments of the issuing countries, it hardly seems like the sort of thing that might have serious international repercussions. Certainly the practice of counterstamping foreign coins was hardly unknown in the region (or even cutting them up to make smaller denominations), so it seems odd that stamping your initials on a foreign coin (on a likely limited basis) as a private person would generate so much official concern.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...
Any body has more information or records for other Russian coins with countermarks?

Thanks,Rarenum

PS: will add images today.

 

I came across this one, and decided to pick it up. Can't say who this Mr. Webster was, but the coin came from Scotland. Don't know if that bears any significance.

 

5kop1803webster.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

 

I was going to post a pic of this copper which is 18 kb only however there is a peoblem with this site???

Ss enjoy a link and purchase a coin if you have an interest in it... ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks. A 1763 2 kopeeks with a countermark SORSBY. Here's the image from eBay:

 

04a212.jpg

You are welcome, I had my feellings that you can win this one, that is why I placed it on over here.

Yes, counterstamp SORSBY sounds like recent auction of SONSTEBY collection of copper coins by T. Hoiland.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...