Countermark on Saint Thomas and Prince Islands coin

[pindborg]

Hi

I have recently purchased a 40 reis 1819 from Saint Thomas and Prince
Islands. The strange part is that it has a crown as countermark on the
front side (see the picture here:)

http://www.geocities.com/karl1903/STP_01.JPG

And the reverse side here:

http://www.geocities.com/karl1903/STP_02.JPG

Can anyone help me finding out what this is? The Krause catalogue
shows no countermark, and I have not been able to find anything on the
net.

Best regards
Erik Pindborg

[Juan]

Betcha that's a British royal crown countermark to allow the coin to
circulate in the British West Indies... but it's just a semi-educated
guess....

[Mr. Jaggers]

The 5th edition Krause listing for ST&P KM-E1 includes a note that "examples
exist with a small crown countermark."

James

[pindborg]

> James- Skjul tekst i anførselstegn -
>
> - Vis tekst i anførselstegn -

Hi

I only have the 20th edition of Krause (1992), and nothing is said
about the countermark there. How old is this catalogue? Then I will
try to find it.

Erik

[Mr. Jaggers]

IIRC, your catalog is from the era before Krause started dividing the
coverage by century. The catalog I used is the SCWC 1801-1900, 5th edition,
c2006. There is a new edition of this scheduled for publication later this
year, so I wouldn't rush right out to buy one, assuming you have access to
one in a library.

James

[Juan]

Look closely at the countermark. Specifically, the top of the crown.
It's got a cross. The crown on the coins of Portugal, Brazil,
Mozambique and St Thomas & Prince from that period does not have a
cross at the top. Now, go look at the coins of British West Indies.
Compare the design of the crown in those coins (KM4 is probably the
easiest one to see) with the countermark in your coin, and you'll see
they're a pretty close match.