Catalog
2 Reales Type IV Countermark
| Issuer | El Salvador |
|---|---|
| Year | 1862-1863 |
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| Composition | Silver (.903) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | RAFAEL CARRERA PTE DE LA R. DE GUATEMALA |
| Reverse description | Host coin reverse displaying the arms of Guatemala: a quetzal bird perched atop a scroll above crossed rifles and sabres, flanked by laurel branches, with a radiant sun rising behind a volcanic landscape at the top. The denomination DOS RS appears in the lower centre, with the assayer initial and date 1861 R (or 1860 R depending on host year) inscribed at the lower periphery, all within a beaded border. |
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| Additional information |
El Salvador had no functioning mint of its own in the early 1860s, so the government authorized countermarking foreign silver — predominantly Guatemalan and Bolivian reales — to validate them as legal tender. The Type IV punch, applied between 1862 and 1863, is distinguished from earlier Salvadoran countermark types by its specific die characteristics, though host coin identification matters considerably: the premium on any given example depends almost entirely on what it was struck on and where that host coin originated.