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1 Real Vicente Guerrero - Insurgent Countermarked coinage
| Issuer | Mexico |
|---|---|
| Year | 1816-1821 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Real (1535-1897) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Insurgent countermark applied to a host coin, depicting a spread-winged eagle facing left, struck within an incuse oval or circular punch. The eagle, a symbol adopted by the insurgent forces of Vicente Guerrero, is rendered in low relief against the heavily worn and scratched field of the host coin. The countermark is applied off-center and dominates the otherwise plain, undifferentiated surface of the planchet. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
During the final phase of the Mexican War of Independence, insurgent commanders operating outside royalist-controlled mints needed circulating money their forces and sympathizers would accept. Guerrero's forces — active in the rugged terrain of what is now Guerrero state — applied countermarks to existing royalist reales, effectively converting crown coinage into insurgent currency through a single punch. The practice was improvised, decentralized, and varied enough that no two countermarked pieces are quite alike in placement or depth of strike.
KM#277 encompasses a range of host coin dates, which is why the spread runs across nearly six years.