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1 Real Type VII Countermark
| Issuer | Government of Costa Rica |
|---|---|
| Year | 1849-1857 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | KM#89 |
| Obverse description | Host coin displays the bare-headed right-facing effigy of King William IV of Great Britain, with the legend GULIELMUS IIII D:G: BRITANNIAR: REX F:D: surrounding the bust. Applied over the lower left portion of the bust is the Costa Rican countermark: a circular punch depicting a standing lion passant to the left within a beaded border, surrounded by the legend HABILITADA POR EL GOBIERNO. The countermark was applied by the Costa Rican government to authorize the host coin for local circulation. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (1849-1857) |
| Additional information |
Costa Rica lacked a functioning mint for much of the mid-nineteenth century and relied heavily on countermarking foreign silver to legitimize it for domestic circulation. The Type VII punch — applied between 1849 and 1857 — was one of several successive countermark applications used to authenticate and re-authorize coins already in circulation, many of them Spanish colonial cobs or milled reales from Guatemala, Mexico, and elsewhere in the former empire. The host coin's origin matters considerably to collectors; the same countermark applied to different host types carries meaningfully different scarcity.