The Roehrs Collection of West Indies Cut and Countermarked Coins (Part I)

Australia, MEXICO, Ferdinand VII, 8 Réales, 1818jj, Mexico City, converted into a matrix for a waistcoat button, with an offset circular piercing from which replica ‘Dumps’ were produced, 19.21g/296.4 gr (Spalding p.250, fig. 103). Good fine, seemingly very rare; two or three other specimens recorded £200-300

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Cut and Countermarked Coins formed by the late Edward Roehrs.

View
Collection

Provenance: Found in a junk box on a London street market, 1999; DNW Auction 45, 1 March 2000, lot 485.

Philip Spalding writes in his book, The World of the Holey Dollar (1973), that six Spanish-American dollars had circular segments removed in order to make replica dumps which were used as buttons for a gentleman’s waistcoat, c. 1860