Catalog
1 Real Type IV Counterstamp
| Issuer | Republic of Costa Rica |
|---|---|
| Year | 1846 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Real (1841-1864) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse bearing the Costa Rican counterstamp applied over the host cob coinage, featuring the arms of Costa Rica at center: a landscape with volcanoes and a tree, enclosed within a dotted or beaded oval cartouche. The counterstamp legend encircles the central device, reading HABILITADA EN COSTA-RICA with the assayer's initials J.B. (Juan Barth) and the denomination 1• R• (1 Real). The counterstamp impression is forcefully struck, partially obscuring the underlying host coin design, and the legend fragments are partially legible around the heavily worn and irregular cob flan. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | 1846 |
| Additional information |
In the 1840s, Costa Rica faced a chronic shortage of reliable small silver coinage and responded by counterstamping foreign and domestic pieces to authenticate them for local circulation. The Type IV counterstamp — applied to 1 Real hosts — represents one of several successive validation campaigns as authorities attempted to distinguish genuine coins from the debased and fraudulent pieces that had flooded Central American markets following independence.
Host coins vary considerably, and identifying the origin of the underlying piece is often as numismatically significant as the counterstamp itself.