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2 Reales Osorno - Insurgent countermarked coinage
| Issuer | Mexico |
|---|---|
| Year | 1809-1822 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 6.78 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse retains the design of the host coin, identifiable as a Spanish colonial 2 Reales milled coinage. The crowned royal arms of Spain are visible at center, displaying the quartered castle and lion shield surmounted by a royal crown. Partial surrounding legend fragments, consistent with the standard HISPAN ET IND REX formula of the Bourbon coinage, remain legible around the periphery, though the surfaces show significant wear and distortion from the countermarking process. |
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| Mintage | ND (1809-1822) - KM#A272.1 - ND (1809-1822) - KM#A272.2 - ND (1809-1822) - KM#A272.3 - ND (1813-1822) - KM#A272.4 - |
| Additional information |
During the Mexican War of Independence, royalist silver coins were seized and counterstamped by insurgent forces operating out of Osorno — a guerrilla commander, José Francisco Osorno, who controlled territory in the Sierra de Puebla and needed a circulating currency his forces would accept. The countermark transformed a coin of the colonial crown into an instrument of rebellion without melting a single gram of silver.
Authenticating these is genuinely difficult. Contemporary forgeries of the countermark existed almost immediately, since acceptance depended on the stamp rather than the host coin.