Brazil 1816 silver dollar overstruck on Spanish Lima Imaginary Bust dollar
WillieBoyd2
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Brazil 960 reis 1816-R, Rio de Janiero, King Joao as regent
Silver, 40 mm, 26.80 gm
Obverse:
Crowned arms of Portugal and three petals at right
JOANNES.D.G.PORT.P.REGENS.ET.BRAS.D.
(John, by the Grace of God, Prince Regent of Portugal and Defender of Brazil)
Reverse:
Portuguese Order of Christ cross with globe and sash
SUBQ. SIGN. NATA STAB., 'R' in center (Rio de Janiero mintmark)
Subquo Signo Nata Stabili (Under This Sign Was Born And Will Remain)
The Brazil coin was struck over a Spanish coin like this one:
Spanish America 8 reales 1811-L, Lima, Ferdinand VII
Silver, 39 mm, 26.67 gm
Obverse:
Imaginary bust of Ferdinand VII facing right
FERDIN VII DEI GRATIA
1811
Reverse:
Crowned shield of Spain
HISPAN ET IND REX LME 8R JP
The abdication of the King of Spain, Charles IV, and the imprisonment of Ferdinand VII by Napoleon left mint officials in Spanish America scrambling for suitable portraits of the new king for coins.
Mint officials in Mexico City, Lima, and Santiago created imaginary busts of Ferdinand for their issues of 1808-11 from old portraits of Ferdinand and their imaginations. These busts differed from mint to mint with the Lima issues departing the furthest from what the King actually looked like.
Enough of the Spanish coin remains on the Brazil to identify the under coin as having the Lima imaginary bust only which means that the under coin was minted in Lima from 1808 to 1811. Unfortunately the under coin date does not appear.
The letters on my Spanish coin do not exactly match my Brazilian coin letters as the coin dies were prepared by individual artists then.
Overstrike obverses
The Spanish Lima coin has been rotated to match the Brazil under coin.
The top of the laurel on the under coin's bust and some of the letters can be seen.
Overstrike reverses
The Spanish Lima coin has been rotated to match the Brazil under coin.
Some of the under coin's letters can be seen.
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Comments
I think you're right - does look like the laurels and head shape of the Inca bust. Nice find!
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Three of these overstruck 960 reis sold at GreatCollections last week. Did any forum members acquire them? I wasn't able to identify any of the host coins myself but if the new owners are on here maybe the forum could do it.