Spanish 4 reale coin with the 1797 King George III counterstamp

BillJones

I have been looking for one of these pieces for a while. It is Spanish 4 reale piece with the small King George III counter stamp.

The dollar version of this coin is better known. In 1797 and again in 1804, the British counterstamped foreign, crown sized coins with a King George III marking which "made" them into British coins. They were not a hit with the British population. The best known comment was "To their coins to pass, the mint stamped the head of a fool on the neck of an ass." Since the coins were initially valued at 4 shillings and 9 pence and not 5 shillings which was the value of a crown, there was also this comment. "Two kings but not a crown"

Here is one of the counterstamped Spanish dollars.

And here is a U.S. Dollar. These pieces are quite rare. And no, I don't own this piece.

The role of the 4 reale counterstamps is obscure. Most say they were added to the bags of dollars to even out the weight to 1,000 ounces. Others say it was used to pay Russian soldiers.

TomB

Those are great examples, Bill.

asheland

I love it! Two of my hobbies rolled into one… That looks like the same hallmark placed on silverware in the UK basically the “duty mark“

bosox

Is the 1795 the one on display in the Tower of London mint?

genosse

@BillJones said:
The role of the 4 reale counterstamps is obscure. Most say they were added to the bags of dollars to even out the weight to 1,000 ounces. Others say it was used to pay Russian soldiers.

Since your 4 reales coin was minted at the Seville Mint, it can be said that it was countermarked according to the decree of 1799.
On 21 September 1799, the Treasury issued a warrant instructing the Officers of the Royal Mint to countermark Spanish Dollars with the Mark of the King's Head. According to the Mint report of November 6, 1799, they received 945,460 coins, weighing a total of 34,166 pounds. Thus, each coin weighed about 208.15 grains and was a 4-reales coin, not an 8-reales coin.
The real mystery is why countermarks were placed on coins intended for foreign armies. Countermarked coins were intended only for the population of Great Britain. Even the British army and navy received their salaries in coins without countermarks.