St. Vincent (1814-18) 4-1/2 bits
This specimen was lot 21088 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2020), where it sold for $4,320. The catalog description[1] noted,
"SAINT VINCENT. St. Vincent - Peru. 4-1/2 Bits (3 Shilling 9 Pence), ND (1814-18). NGC VG-8. Approved by council minutes 25 April 1814. Raised "S IV ./2 B" within cruciform indent countermark with a dot above the "/2" which presumably means "1/2" applied to the obverse of an 1807-LM JP Peru bust 2 Reales of Charles IIII (IV). VERY RARE host bust type with only 5 examples including the present survivor and a total of only 16 confirmed pieces as a general type for all host coins. The countermark is boldly applied though a hair uneven with well defined characters. The host exhibits nice honest wear consistent for being in circulation for a prolonged period of time with no major impairments to speak of. Attractive light golden-argent color grace the smooth surfaces with light grey in the open fields and nice slate patina in the protected areas. A lovely and wholesome problem free example of a type that seldom appears on the market."
The British West Indies included Jamaica, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Trinidad and the miscellaneous islands in between. Enormously prosperous in the eighteenth century, their economies would shrink considerably in the mid-nineteenth century with slave emancipation and the introduction of the sugar beet to Europe.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 6.77 g, 0.896 fine silver (host coin).
Catalog reference: KM-9.1 (same punch); Prid-13 (same punch); Wood-68 (same punch); ANS Collection-1916.192.873 (same punch).
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Byrne, Ray, Coins and Tokens of the Caribees, Decatur, IL: Jess Peters, Inc., 1975.
- Pridmore, F., The Coins of the British Commonwealth of Nations to the end of the Reign of George VI 1952: Part 3, Bermuda, British Guiana, British Honduras and the British West Indies, London: Spink & Son, 1965.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The January 2020 NYINC Sale: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2019.
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