Bust quarter and counterstamp help needed to attribute this one

claychaser

1825 quarter

The link above is to a 1825 bust quarter puchased at auction. The actual weight of the coin is 6.48 grams, the spec is 6.74 grams per the Redbook. This is 3.86% less than the newly minted specification.

Could the waffle pattern be a cancelled coin due to not meeting spec, or would the loss be due to normal wear?

Anybody got any opinions, expert or not?

rhedden

I say it's a counterstamp. Possibly from a period waffle shop.

The real surprising thing is that they did not notice it's the rare Browning-1 variety, and point it out in the auction description to extract maximum juice from the bidders.



Edited to add: it's strange that there is no damage on the reverse, nor around the punchmarks, suggesting it's not a counterstamp. I should look more closely before posting future waffle jokes.

BaseballAbs

He's right it is a B-1. That is one crazy stamp.

291fifth

Probably a mutilation caused by someone fooling around long, long ago.

Quarternut

This counterstamp and others that are similar in nature, have been postulated by some to be a sort of cancellation stamp, although there currently is nothing to support this theory.

The lower weight is most likely due to the wear the coin has received. If a coin did not meet the proper weight it would have been simply melted and re-coined, not cancelled, at least by the mint.

I own several of these types of stamps on Bust Halves, but I did not pay much for them due to the fact that we do not know what they are nor where they originated from and that is where most of the money comes in.

It is still an interesting item and of course I might be interested in it at the right price...


Hope this helps...

QN

comma

I really really like that!! I love squares (Im a graphic designer)
Let me know if you ever want to sell

hchcoin

I really like it too.

ldhair

Interesting coin. I'm almost sure this same coin was a topic here many years ago.

coindeuce

I'll go out on a limb here and propose a theory. The instant I opened the link to the image, I visualized the teeth on the jaws of a bench vise. I've seen several styles of vise jaw teeth; the damage pattern on this coin resembles the pattern of tiny pyramid shaped teeth arranged in a geometric pattern of such a vise. Possibly the result of an attempt to straighten a bent coin?

RichieURich

I don't know if it is a counterstamp or not, but I did have a similar B-1 although the coin I had contained 13 round holes on the obverse.

No wonder 1825 B-1's are so tough to find without problems!

claychaser

YN TrainNut and I got out Rory Rea's book - and gadzooks! It is a B-1, making this an R5 coin. Its also interesting to note that the coin does have a cokeyed wavy bend to it, but does not appear to be out of round.

So, counterstamp news maybe not so good. But I wonder if its worthwhile to get into a details attributed holder, or just leave it raw? Or with the damage, does an R5 scarcity matter?

TheBigB

<< <i>The lower weight is most likely due to the wear the coin has received. If a coin did not meet the proper weight it would have been simply melted and re-coined, not cancelled, at least by the mint. >>



Exactly.

Billet7

I would have purchased it if I had seen it. Way neat!

lordmarcovan

I've seen this mark somewhere before, though I can't remember exactly where. I highly doubt it was this same coin.

Coindeuce's "bench vise" theory makes as much sense to me as anything else I could think up.

CaptHenway

Have seen other vintage coins with similar PMD.
Don't think it is anything special.
TD

CoinRaritiesOnline

It looks a little like the lattice countermark circa 1841 that Cuba put on coins.

Here is a closed ebay auction with such a countermark:

ebay auction with 1808 2 reales with Cuba Lattice Countermark

It is not exactly the same as the countermarks I have seen though, so it may well be post-mint damage, as others have said.

claychaser

Thought I would push this to the top for Monday for us Waffle House fans.....