Great Britain 1813 3 shillings
This specimen was lot 74763 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, September 2024), where it sold for $145. The catalog description[1] noted, "GREAT BRITAIN. Silver 3 Shillings Bank Token, 1813. George III. PCGS AU-55. This handsome piece retains a fresh look with only limited friction and marks. A nice steel-gray example of the type." The 1790's and early 1800's saw one of the recurring shortages of coin in England as she engaged in her titanic struggle with Napoleon. The Bank of England attempted to alleviate this by countermarking Spanish colonial pesos with a punch bearing the head of George III. When this countermark was enthusiastically counterfeited, the bank resorted to counterstamping the entire coin. This token, issued 1812-16, was most likely made from melted down Spanish American dollars.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 14.7 g, 0.891 fine silver, 34 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: S-3770; KM-Tn5; ESC-2082.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of English and UK Coins, 1066 to Date, London: Coincraft, 1995.
- Rayner, P. Alan, and Maurice Bull, English Silver Coinage from 1649, 6th Ed., London: Spink & Son, 2015.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of England & the United Kingdom, 46th edition, London: Spink & Son, 2011.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, September 2024 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2024.
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