Alloa Colliery (1800-20) 5 shillings

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Stack's Bowers 2021 NYINC sale, lot 22363
SB121-22363r.jpg

This specimen was lot 22363 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (Newport Beach, CA, January 2021), where it sold for $3,840. The catalog description[1] noted,

"SCOTLAND. Scotland - MEXICO. Clackmannanshire. Alloa. 5 Shillings, ND (ca. 1800-20). NGC VG-10; Countermark: XF Strong. Issued by John Francis Erskine and Alexander Bald, proprietor and manager of Alloa colliery. Countermark: 5/ at center, circular punch "+Payable at Alloa Colliery", both separate punches, applied to the obverse of a false, most likely produced in Birmingham, 1794-MoFM Mexico bust 8 Reales of Charles IIII(IV). This fairly SCARCE issuer seldom appears on the market; when Manville published his masterful work Tokens of the Industrial Revolution in 2001, he was aware of only about 28 survivors of this intriguing issue. The countermark is even and deeply impressed with good definition of the legends on a well-worn host showing nice consistent wear. This rather wholesome problem free survivor exhibits nice surfaces with rich brown patina displaying a few remnants of richly toned silvering adding character to this interesting issuance. Perhaps not as valuable as a silver countermarked token, however it is certainly an important aspect of this complex series sure to add depth to the next collection it enters. Somewhat of an intriguing issue in that nearly all known examples from this proprietor utilized contemporary counterfeit Mexican Dollars, most likely produced in Birmingham, instead of genuine Dollars that were readily available from the silver market. The main purpose that these token coins were issued was so that employers could force their laborers to purchase goods at the company store at exorbitant prices perpetually keeping their employees in debt. Since the Alloa issue is almost entirely made up of False Dollars they would have been virtually worthless anywhere else and would have undoubtedly forced their employees into prolonged servitude."

Altho the Stack's cataloguers have attributed this countermark to Clackmannanshire, we will follow the SCWC and file this under Stirlingshire.

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: debased silver (struck on a counterfeit coin).

Catalog reference: Manville-5; KM-CC1.

Source:

  • Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
  • [1]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The January 2021 NYINC Sale: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Oro del Nuevo Mundo and Matt Orsini Collections, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2020.

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