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V17 2014 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 17, Number 49, November 30, 2014, Article 14

IS 1876 PRIZE COUNTERSTAMP OF BRITISH ORIGIN?

Regarding Dave Schenkman's counterstamped 5-Centimes, Paul Bosco writes:

1876 prize-obv This looks to me unsuspiciously like one of many European coppers that circulated in England in 1876 and surrounding decades. Some famous (i.e. common) ones are PEAR'S SOAP and BORWICK'S BAKING POWDER. Such British Isles counterstamps on copper and bronze coins, both merchant pieces and others, are cataloged in a book by Gavin Scott.

It became illegal to deface British bronze coins. (Smaller coins in bronze replaced the earlier coppers, beginning 1860.) However, Continental "5" and "10" coins --Centimes, Centesimi, Stotinki, Para, etc.-- were issued by Latin Monetary Union countries. These circulated in England, where they were just about the same size as the Halfpenny and Penny bronze coins. Advertisers stamped them and put them into circulation.

This piece may relate to a British product that won an award at the Expo in Philly. At this time, I haven't been able to check if Scott lists it. It may be some kind of trial, never issued in an effective quantity for advertising. These kinds of pieces were not stamped on both sides, so this anonymous piece does not make sense. Nonetheless, it very much has the right look for inclusion in the series in question.

Thanks! That's a very plausible explanation of the origin of this piece. The Scott book is British Countermarks on Copper and Bronze Coins, 1975. I found it listed in the bibliography for Greg Brunk's 2003 book. Merchant and Privately Countermarked Coins. I didn't find this "Prize Medal" listed in Brunk's index. -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NUMMIS NOVA NUMISMATIC DIARY: NOVEMBER 16, 2014: Query: Two Unusual 1876 Centennial Items (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n47a23.html)
PAUL CUNNINGHAM ON TWO 1876 CENTENNIAL ITEMS (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n48a11.html)



Wayne Homren, Editor

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