Altered Colonial Coins

[BTV Digger]

Hi all,

Seeing I'm in the painful "waiting 'til spring" mode up here in northern New England, I thought I'd share a shot of my altered large cents and colonial coins I've found over the past few years or so to get that bug an itching for all of you. I'm sure you "East Coasters" have found some also, so feel free to share here. Of the 7 coins shown here I've identified six of them, but need some help on the first coin at upper right in the top row. It kind of looks like a KG1 or a perhaps a KG1 Woods Hibernia. I've shown a close-up in the second pick which shows a bust facing right with the nose just below the sideways 2. Shoot me your guesses! For the wide shot, the coins are:

Top row: *Unidentified colonial coin with the number 2 stamped on both obverse and reverse
*Cut 1803 Draped Bust LC
*King George II half penny love token (LB cursive script)

Middle row:
*King George III half penny made into a button
*1828 Matron LC with H. Hovey counterstamp (not much to go on here - I believe he was a druggist in Boston or somewhere in MA)

Bottom row: *No date Draped Bust LC made into a screwdriver
*1798 Draped Bust LC with initials IDM, or JDM on the obverse (research could find no provenance)


John

[Digger Don]

Very cool! I've often wondered why people counter stamped coins back in the day.

Seated Half dug in 2018

[BTV Digger]

Very cool! I've often wondered why people counter stamped coins back in the day.

Seated Half dug in 2018

Killer counterstamped half Don! Counterstamping coins was often done as an advertising trick by tradesmen or store owners to attract new business to their location. Another reason to alter coins was just for plain personal use from what I've read, though those alterations were usually done by etching or carving instead of actual counterstamping.

John

[Full Metal Digger]

Here's my counter stamped coins:

[OxShoeDrew]

So cool, John! That LB is amazing! I've yet to find a love token. Don's half is off the charts! Anyone guess the date on the "2's" font? Did it come much later than colonial times? We all have a bunch of single holed coins too. Dan told me, not only did people wear the coins around their necks but hung them about the doorway to commemorate the completion of the house or a wedding day. at Dave

[Full Metal Digger]

Drew, what can you tell us about the coin with the Fleur-de-lis counter stamp? Is it a French Liard? I'm guessing Louis XVI timeframe with that stamp.

[del]

Great subject and very nice finds John , I love seeing altered coins and tokens and speculating on what their intentions were made for , really makes you wonder .

John , is the coin with the stamped 2 thinner than most of the other colonial coins ?

Dan

[OxShoeDrew]

Drew, what can you tell us about the coin with the Fleur-de-lis counter stamp? Is it a French Liard? I'm guessing Louis XVI timeframe with that stamp.

Dave, I read its a stamp made by another government to allow the coin to circulate in that country as well. I haven't heard of it being any type of allegiance during the French Rev. I think its a KG2

[BTV Digger]

HaHa Dave. I'm actually surprised at that. I guess that's not really a thing over in Europe?

John

[BTV Digger]

Great subject and very nice finds John , I love seeing altered coins and tokens and speculating on what their intentions were made for , really makes you wonder .

John , is the coin with the stamped 2 thinner than most of the other colonial coins ?

Dan

Hi Dan,

Yeah, very thin like a typical British counterfeit copper or perhaps a well worn regal variety. Rings up a 78 VDI on the AT Pro. The backside is wiped clean except it has another #2 on it.

John

[BTV Digger]

So cool, John! That LB is amazing! I've yet to find a love token. Don's half is off the charts! Anyone guess the date on the "2's" font? Did it come much later than colonial times? We all have a bunch of single holed coins too. Dan told me, not only did people wear the coins around their necks but hung them about the doorway to commemorate the completion of the house or a wedding day. at Dave

Very nice Drew! Were they trying to make a salt shaker lid for the coin at lower right? Sounds crazy, but honestly not off the table after reading about all of their uses!

John

[Menzl]

Great and interesting finds! Coins with countermarks are quite rare to find. Also in Europe. However, if I would find the coin with the 2 or the lilies in Europe, I would think first of a dyer's mark. They are quite common here and served as a collection receipt in the dye works. An identical counterpart remains with the dyers. Is there something like that over there?

[BTV Digger]

Great and interesting finds! Coins with countermarks are quite rare to find. Also in Europe. However, if I would find the coin with the 2 or the lilies in Europe, I would think first of a dyer's mark. They are quite common here and served as a collection receipt in the dye works. An identical counterpart remains with the dyers. Is there something like that over there?

Thanks Mendl and interesting suggestion! You know, the one thing that's similar over here are old brass railroad luggage tags from the 1800s. I've dug several. The traveler would keep one and the railroad bagman would keep the other, so when the final destination was reached the traveler could retain their bags by presenting their copy of the tag to the bagman. I've not heard of that being done with a dyer, but alas I haven't read up too much on it.

John

[OxShoeDrew]

Were they trying to make a salt shaker lid for the coin at lower right? Sounds crazy, but honestly not off the table after reading about all of their uses!

John

I have no idea about that one, John ...if I recall correctly its an American coin.