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1/8 Real 'Octavo' Countermarked
| Issuer | Municipality of Zamora |
|---|---|
| Year | 1843-1857 |
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| Composition | Copper |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central field features the Mexican national coat of arms depicting a spread-winged eagle perched on a cactus, devouring a serpent, with olive and laurel branches below. The legend MUNICIPIO DE ZAMORA arcs along the upper periphery, with the denomination partially visible along the right margin. The design is struck on a milled copper flan with a beaded or toothed border running the full circumference. The overall style is consistent with Mexican municipal coinage of the mid-nineteenth century. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | MUNICIPIO DE ZAMORA |
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| Additional information |
Zamora's municipal countermarks on fractional copper represent one of the more chaotic episodes in Mexican provincial monetary history. Following independence, the federal government repeatedly failed to supply adequate small-denomination coinage to interior states, forcing individual municipalities to authorize their own countermarks on existing pieces — effectively deputizing worn or foreign coppers into local circulation by official stamp. Zamora, in Michoacán, was among the more persistent offenders, issuing countermarked octavos across a fourteen-year window that speaks directly to how thoroughly the central mint system had collapsed at the retail level.