1834 Chile Volcano Peso with Philippines Counterstamp
Omegaraptor
Posts: 540 ✭✭✭✭✭
This is my most expensive coin purchase to date. 1834 is the final year that Chile issued this very scarce and sought-after type, and most of this year's issue went to the Philippines (which remained a Spanish colony) and got stamped for local circulation. I have only seen one 1834 Peso that did not have the Philippines stamp, and it bears rather interesting graffiti. This is one of the more common dates in this series, but "common" is a relative term here.
NGC graded it VF-35, and the holder has seen better days. I may send this coin in for a reholder. The coin itself is very nice for a VF-35 grade with a bit of mint luster remaining, if there was a CAC for world coins, this would probably be a candidate for a bean. Due to the stamp, this coin is slightly bowl-shaped, leading to a lot of luster being preserved on the volcano side.
"You can't get just one gun." "You can't get just one tattoo." "You can't get just one 1796 Draped Bust Large Cent."
Comments
Very nice. I have been looking for an example of this type with chopmarks for several years (you'd assume they'd exist given the number of examples with Filipino counterstamps), but still haven't located one.
Congratulations on your Chile Peso Independiente , @Omegaraptor ! you have a nice example of a scarce type.
As you mention, most 1834 I J's were sent to the Philippines to be countermarked, and circulate locally. Examples without the C/M are very scarce. Presumable examples which escaped being sent overseas.
The countermark is also known on Chilean pesos of other dates, for example 1820 F.D. This is extremely rare.
The year 1834 is known with assayer I alone, and with assayers I and J. Examples with assayer I are rare (I counted a maximum of only 5 examples many years ago).
Regarding the scarcity of this issue: I believe now that 1834 I.J's with the Philippines countermark are among the most commonly see Chilean Pesos of this type. The other most commonly seen is 1817 F.j , which was the first coin of the type.
1822 is the third 'most common', followed by 1833. All other dates are scarce, very scarce, rare, or unique.
My own example of the 1834 I.J is a well circulated coin with plenty of circulation marks and dents.