Counter Stamped Indian

[Lee43]

Larry has been "Under The Weather" for about 3 days now, So today I went by myself back to where I got my last LC, after about 4 1/2 hours all I could get was a counter stamped 1863 Indian. Some one carved the initials M.H. on the obverse of the coin. I'll take it. Thanks for looking......Lee

 

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[Hill Billy]

The indians are coming out of the ground today.Congrats

 

[Evolution]

Very interesting find.

 

[The Buzzard King]

Now THAT'S strange.
Great find though!
Congrats.
That's an OLD Injun!

 

[pattiewhack]

Plenty of Indians lately- Congrats and that is real neat with the Initials!

 

[allen]

cool find...

 

[Nana40]

Neat find! And makes ya wonder who M H was!

Congrats on that find! Nana

 

[BuckleBoy]

I don't know that it qualifies as "counterstamped," but certainly as "personalized."


Either way, it's a cool find.



-Buckleboy

 

[CRUSADER]

I don't know that it qualifies as "counterstamped," but certainly as "personalized."


Either way, it's a cool find.



-Buckleboy

I was going to be a bore & say the same thing, so ditto.

8) 8) 8)

 

[MonkeyBoy]

That's pretty cool! I use to collect Civil War tokens... lots of them!! I picked up a few War ear counterstrikes along the way.. kind of interesting..

MonkeyBoy

 

[jeff of pa]

Very cool Find

Is it stamped or scratched in ?

Congrats !

 

[CRUSADER]

Very cool Find

Is it stamped or scratched in ?

Congrats !

Looks scratched in as the top of the H goes over the bar. Thats why I agreed with the personalised theory. Still interesting.

 

[jeff of pa]

Very cool Find

Is it stamped or scratched in ?

Congrats !

Looks scratched in as the top of the H goes over the bar. Thats why I agreed with the personalised theory. Still interesting.

My thoughts also
Unless it was a Very Crude Stamp.

 

[ELVISFAN]

STORE OWNERS AND OTHER BUSINESS PEOPLE OF THE 1800'S USED COUNTERSTAMP SYSTEM TO IDENTIFY THEIR MONEY IF IT WAS STOLEN ..DAVE

 

[Detectingfreak]

Nice job on the indian! Sucks that someone carved there initials on it.

 

[JerV3]

Nice indian,

I've found alot of indians over the yrs. I have one very similar to the one you have. Someone smoothed one side of it down and carved a date onto it. I guess there wasn't much to do back then.

HH Jer

 

[Hunter]

Nice Indian! to bad someone carved there initials on it.

 

[CRUSADER]

STORE OWNERS AND OTHER BUSINESS PEOPLE OF THE 1800'S USED COUNTERSTAMP SYSTEM TO IDENTIFY THEIR MONEY IF IT WAS STOLEN ..DAVE

Are you pointing out in Caps that this is Counterstamped or just a general statement?

I pinched these definitions from another forum;

'COUNTERSTAMP- an official punch mark to signify legal tender status of a foreign coin or change in value of a domestic coin [eg, Spanish dollars counterstamped with image of George III]

COUNTERMARK- private punch mark used as advertising or as a sort of merchant coupon to keep coinage in local circulation in times of coin shortages [eg, 18th century English silver]'

Whether you agree with the above explainations is not what is in discussion here. I believe the Initials to have been 'incised' into the coin & not 'stamped'. Therefore making it a personal inscription rather than having a numismatic meaning.

It is very interesting & I would rather find this coin than a better conditioned IH, however it should be labelled differently. IMHO (Disclaimer in case I'm wrong)

 

[miserman]

It's a nice find that's a little different than most Indian Heads that are found. This is what makes the hobby enjoyable! You never know what the next dig will uncover.

 

[ELVISFAN]

Coins were counter stamped by Merchants and store owners even everyday people in case it got stolen so if found it could be identifyed and returned to the original owners.