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4 Bits
| Issuer | Grenada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1814 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Triangular segment cut from the upper-right third of a Spanish Colonial 8 Reales cob coinage. The arc-shaped upper edge bears a milled border, with a partial legend reading ROLUS·II visible along the curved rim, representing the name CAROLUS II of the Spanish monarch. In the central field, a crowned fleur-de-lis flanked by partial crowned shield devices occupies the left and right corners. Three rectangular countermarks are applied to the field: a boxed TR stamp at the left, a boxed G stamp centrally below, and a boxed numeral 4 stamp at the right, constituting the official Grenada fiscal countermarks authorizing the piece for local circulation at a value of 4 Bits. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Grenada's 4 Bits piece belongs to the cut-and-countermarked coinage that circulated throughout the British Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars, when silver shipments from Britain were unreliable and locally available specie was systematically revalued and restruck to meet colonial demand. Spanish colonial 8 Reales were cut into segments and countermarked to circulate at assigned local valuations — a pragmatic solution to a chronic shortage that plagued virtually every British Windward Island simultaneously.
The KM#7 attribution places this among the rarest of Grenada's countermarked issues. Grenada's series is notably short-lived; British authorities moved to standardize Caribbean currency within years of these local improvisations.