So, I made an impulse buy and I want to know more about it...

NeophyteNumismatist

I thought I was done buying braided hair half cents, but saw this 1855 in NGC62, and liked it a lot. It's been counter-stamped, "G. Clark Phila". Further research pulled up a January 3, 2021 Stacks Auction listing with the following description (not my exact coin, but the exact counterstamp on another 1855 HC):

"1855 Half Cent, G. CLARK / PHILA., AU Host; AU Counterstamp. Brunk C-508, Rulau Pa 713. Curved prepared punch. A dozen coins are listed, all on 1855 half cents. G. Clark counterstamps are remarkably high-quality for a blacksmith mark. Most examples were counterstamped on Uncirculated or nearly Uncirculated 1855 half cents; subsequently, most of those coins circulated in the local Philadelphia economy. Ex: Van Ormer Collection (Bowers and Merena, 9/1985), lot 2590."

This has me curious to learn more about the merchant. Does anyone know more about G.Clark? Address? Years in business? All I know is what was found in Stacks listing.

NewEnglandRarities

It’s certainly a counterstamp of the correct era. I would check the Brunk or Rulau book for this stamp. Looks like a prepared punch and maybe a known person of the era. Some of the information is known for these makers and others have very little known about. The Newman Numismatic Portal may have some more information if you search there on this Merchant.

But very cool piece! I like it and a great addition for a collection. Very few countertamped coins from 1780s-1880s are known on high grade coins, which makes this particular maker interesting based on the stacks description.

RobertScotLover

I also dig it. Excellent condition for the c/s. I am hopefully more info will eventually come out about the c/s. The host coin is also a great specimen too.

DCW

From Brunk:

yosclimber

There are several people named George Clark in the 1870 census in Philadelphia.
The second one I checked was a blacksmith, age 30, born in Pennsylvania:

It looks like he was married to Mary Clark age 34, born in Ireland.
I did not check the others, so I don't know if any of the others were blacksmiths.
I found this on familysearch.org, a free site, and my usual place for looking up genealogy type things.

NeophyteNumismatist

Thanks so much for the help and replies! I really appreciate it.

NeophyteNumismatist

@DCW - Am I reading this Brunk book correctly? Are there only 12 known (C-508) on 1855 half cents?

I am looking at the (12) after the 1855 date, and that's how I am reading it. I am also looking at the Stacks description that says, "A dozen coins are listed". This seems like a very low number, and so I am questioning if I am reading it right.

JBK

@NeophyteNumismatist said:
@DCW - Am I reading this Brunk book correctly? Are there only 12 known (C-508) on 1855 half cents?

I am looking at the (12) after the 1855 date, and that's how I am reading it. I am also looking at the Stacks description that says, "A dozen coins are listed". This seems like a very low number, and so I am questioning if I am reading it right.

Yes, you're reading that correctly. But keep in mind that those are the ones that Brunk knew about, not how many were made or still exist.

Also, people don't collect counterstamped coins the way they collect regular coins by date, variety, etc. It is entirely a supply and demand scenario, and there are plenty of rare or even unique counterstamps that are not especially valuable. There are also others that are relatively common that sell for strong amounts.

What yours has going for it is that it is a known issuer and is very well designed.

NeophyteNumismatist

Thanks @JBK ! I do understand that rarity and price are not always correlated. I saw this coin/token and it was inexpensive, and nice looking. I bought it to add a little depth to my braided hair set.

While I realize that rarity is both a moving target, and doesn't always impact price.... I am now even more glad that I bought this example. If there are 12 (and most circulated in commerce), I may hay one of the nicer examples in my collection. Not to mention that this counterstamp would be tough to find if I were actually looking for it .

The fact that I fell backward into all this without really knowing what I was buying makes it all the more fun (typically I research the daylights out of everything, so I rarely get surprises).

Thanks to all who responded!

CaptHenway

A neat piece!

CalifornianKing

@yosclimber said:
There are several people named George Clark in the 1870 census in Philadelphia.
The second one I checked was a blacksmith, age 30, born in Pennsylvania:

It looks like he was married to Mary Clark age 34, born in Ireland.
I did not check the others, so I don't know if any of the others were blacksmiths.
I found this on familysearch.org, a free site, and my usual place for looking up genealogy type things.

Interesting. Could be him, or could not be... Blacksmith is the right profession to do this.

JBK

@NeophyteNumismatist said:

If there are 12 (and most circulated in commerce), I may have one of the nicer examples in my collection.

I would say this is very likely, and it is very possible or likely that yours is the finest one in existence.

Not to mention that this counterstamp would be tough to find if I were actually looking for it.

That's for sure. That is the case with so many counterstamps and can drive the price up for a particular piece.

I should also mention that counterstamps have become very hot in the past few years. Popular vintage counterstamps can go for several hundred dollars or more. The most sought-after ones can easily go over a thousand or two.