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(1810-1815) St. Eustatius Countermark on a Cayenne Two Sous. Vlack 418 type. Rarity-6 for the type

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:80.00 CAD Estimated At:200.00 - 250.00 CAD
(1810-1815) St. Eustatius Countermark on a Cayenne Two Sous.  Vlack 418 type.  Rarity-6 for the type
SOLD
300.00CAD+ (60.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2019 May 02 @ 20:56UTC-4 : AST/EDT

Buyer’s Premiums will be added on all items as per the Terms & Conditions of the sale. Invoices will be emailed out after The Toronto Coin Expo.

(1810-1815) St. Eustatius Countermark on a Cayenne Two Sous. Vlack 418 type. Rarity-6 for the type, Rarity-8 as a counterfeit countermark. The host coin is Very Fine or better, a boldly struck example, and clearly struck in brass and is dated 1789, making it an unlisted metal variation of the Vlack 393 type. The letters SE and the letter P are very shallowly countermarked on the reverse, showing through as incuse images on the obverse. The genuine St. Eustatius countermarks have the letters in distinct round cartouches, whereas here they are not. The first St. Eustatius issues had the SE punch, obviously the initials of the island. Vlack notes that “because of the abundant contemporary forgeries, the genuine coins already marked with an SE received an additional P counterstamp as an added protection against counterfeiters.” Well, that additional mark was not much of a protection, as the present coin proves! However, counterfeits with both the SE and P countermarks are prohibitively rare – we have seen just one other. Making this piece even more interesting is that it is a counterfeit countermark that is likely also on a counterfeit host coin – the brass Cayenne probably a Birmingham forgery, which makes this a double counterfeit, made in two different nations a half world apart! One of the jewels from the Edward Roehrs collection sold by Dix Noonan Webb, and a piece that belongs in the cabinet of another serious collector.