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2 Reales Osorno - Insurgent countermarked coinage
| Issuer | Mexico |
|---|---|
| Year | 1809-1822 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Reales |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Applied insurgent countermark of the ONR monogram — representing José Francisco Osorno — punched within an oval or elliptical indent at the center of the coin. The monogram is composed of the intertwined letters O, N, and R in relief, applied by force over the host coin's obverse. Remnants of the original host coin design are visible in the field surrounding the countermark, including partial legends and design elements consistent with a Spanish colonial milled coinage of the period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Reeded |
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| 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.