Chopmarks on coins, traceable?

joeykoins

Hi guys,
I recently bought a 1887 Reale with many chopmarks. I'll post the coin later. While purchasing the coin at a table at the Chicago ANA Show. Another collector clued me in on the chopmarks on my Reale. He said they were very beneficial, as to having no chopmarks. Is this true? Are these sorts of chopmarks traceable from the creator and time period? I do believe there are books on this topic, somewhere, no? I heard some specific Mark's, are more rarer? True?
Thanks guys for any information on the "chopmark" craze.

jmlanzaf

Some chopmarks are traceable. While chopmark collectors love them, other collectors eschew them. So, whether they enhance or decrease the value is going to depend. I'll let the chopmark experts give you the details.

And, of course, it is probably worth mentioning: there are fake chopmarks.

joeykoins

Here's the coin.


I'll post some close- ups of the chopmarks later.
Thanks

joeykoins

@jmlanzaf said:
Some chopmarks are traceable. While chopmark collectors love them, other collectors eschew them. So, whether they enhance or decrease the value is going to depend. I'll let the chopmark experts give you the details.

And, of course, it is probably worth mentioning: there are fake chopmarks.

Thanks

ricko

There is a book, the author's name is Rose... It can be found for sale occasionally - it is long out of print. Cheers, RickO

oih82w8

I would be willing to wager that most chop marks originated in china...either years ago or...yesterday.

Crypto

Calling @OriginalDan

Those appear to be late period small chops which are less desirable & more common. They also appear on more the the more available types being a Mexican 8R. Your coin isn’t worrying with original skin and has VF details. I grade it 75$ And an historically interesting artifact of global commerce from the late 19th / early 20th Cen.

The larger chops are often more traceable as they are easier to identify characters.

Here is a super interesting Instagram on just said topic (interpreting chops)
https://instagram.com/chopmarkedcoins?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

OGDan

At this time they are traceable only to China and surrounding regions. Some coins with chopmarks also bear other marks like a Spanish Philippines counterstamp and can be traced to the locale of the other mark too. I believe there is probably documentation out there somewhere with a record of which chopmark character belonged to which merchant or bank, but any such document has not yet been made available publicly.

lkenefic

Very nice! I picked up an 8 Reales over the summer. I wanted one from the 18th Century and was trying to hold out for one dated 1794... because the likelihood that I'll ever own a US 1794 Dollar is slim to "hitting the lottery"... this chop marked piece was close enough!