Dominica No Date (1798) 11 bits
The island of Dominica was first colonized by the French in 1632, and went back and forth many times between the French and British until being fully controlled by the British in 1805. The first coinage was pierced, cut, or otherwise mutilated foreign silver coins, and standardization of this practice took place in 1798. Dominica began using pound sterling in 1862, thus demonetizing all previous cut, pierced, or countermarked foreign coins. According to Byrne[1], the coin type shown here was normally pierced from the pillar side of the host coin, and the edges sanded down.
This example was lot 23804 at the 2011 April Rosemont Signature World & Ancient Coins CICF Auction #3014 by Heritage Auctions and sold on Apr 2, 2011 for $2242. the catalog description reads:
"British Colonial 11 Bits ND (1798), VF35 NGC, crenated center hole removed from a 1791 Mexico 8 Reales. An attractive example with aged patina. Provenance: Ex: Parsons #1034, Whitmore #278 and Glendinings October 1964 #1252, with the original tag."
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 0.903 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM 3.3, Pr-21.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Byrne, Ray, Coins and Tokens of the Caribees, Decatur, IL: Jess Peters, Inc., 1975.
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