Grenada, French Administration, Authority of October 1780, One Escalin (One Bitt), a lightweight cut ‘eleventh’ of a Spanish-Colonial 8 Reales, rev. countermarked with incuse G, 1.52g/23.5gr (Prid. 1; KM 1). Very fine, rare; although light in weight the countermark appears to be official £240-£300

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Tankersley Collection of West Indian Coins and Tokens.

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Research by Professor Jerome Jambu, former curator of modern coins at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, has uncovered the French documentation for this issue of cut countermarked coinage dating to October 1780. The Act specifies that the 8 Real coins would be cut into 11 segments. From a practical basis this would be virtually impossible and it is very likely the dollars were cut into 12 segments. Weights vary from one-tenth to one fourteenth of a dollar; the heavier segments being extremely rare as these would have been pulled out of circulation after legislation under British Administration in 1787 reducing the value of these cut pieces from 9 Pence to 6 Pence (cf. Pridmore, Appendix 31).