Another Counter-stamped Large Cent

Smittys

CaptHenway

Very interesting!

guitarwes

Pretty neat. Almost looks like a mirror image of the eagle on the reverse of Capped and Seated coinage.

AnkurJ

It's a bird!

JRocco

Or a plane....

NumisOxide

Cool counterstamp!

AUandAG

Somebody obviously thought there should be an eagle on our large cents!

Cool piece!

bob

numisma

Brunk believes that eagle countermarks on U.S. large cents are "the issues of gunsmiths, locksmiths, and other metal workers." Merchant and Privately Countermarked Coins, Gregory Brunk, 2003

In his book, he catalogs your countermark as ETC-18. Here's what he says about your counterstamped large cent:

EAGLE & 18 HALLMARK. David Bowers has three examples of coins stamped with this small hallmark in his collection. It consists of an eagle perched on an arc with "18" below." It is known on large cents dated 1822, 1841, and 1850.

Looks like you have number four! You should offer it to Dave Bowers. It won't be worth a lot of money, but it would be neat to at least document it for the future edition of Brunk, and Dave can add it to his mini hoard of these.

I would sure like to know the meaning of the countermark. Any theories? Could it have a military reference? For example, could it have been issued (privately) to members of the U.S. Army's 18th Infantry Regiment, which was constituted in 1861? Any other ideas?

291fifth

The counterstamp has a very "military" feel to it. The fact that it is so worn for an 1849 cent suggests that it was carried as a pocket piece.

tincup

Nice item!

johnny9434

cool item.

numisma

With the suspicion that this could be from the Army's 18th Infantry Regiment, I did some checking on the internet and found the images below. They all are from American Military Insignia 1800-1851, which was found on gutenberg.org. I didn't have a chance to read the book online, but I did take a few quick screen shots that show a lot similarity to the counterstamp on Smitty's 1846 large cent.

For example, Brunk state's that there's "an eagle perched on an arc." Take a look at the image of the eagle (head facing right) that is perched on what appears to be half of a globe. Also notice that the counterstamp has an octagonal shape, which matches other insignia posted here. I also liked the 16th Infantry Regiment insignia, which is quite similar to the counterstamp on the 1846 cent.

I would bet money that this is a military countermark, and most likely one for the 18th Infantry (began in 1861). This mark is not known on any cent older than 1850. Could these have been pocket pieces carried by soldiers during the Civil War?




This one is just cool because it references a 1795 silver dollar!

ricko

Interesting, and it definitely has a military bearing.... I wonder if such a coin served as their equivalent of today's 'challenge coins'...Cheers, RickO

numisma

<< <i>Interesting, and it definitely has a military bearing.... I wonder if such a coin served as their equivalent of today's 'challenge coins'...Cheers, RickO >>



What's the story on "today's challenge coins?" Never heard of them.

Smittys

Bump because i like looking at older pics on my computer and rehashing older threads

Tookybandit

ricko

For Numisma...... Text Cheers, RickO