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4 Bits
| Issuer | Grenada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1814 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Necessity coinage (1798-1840) |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | ROLUS·II |
| Reverse description | Triangular segment cut from a Spanish Colonial 8 Reales cob coinage, showing the arc-shaped milled upper border with a partial legend reading ISPAN· along the curved rim, derived from the full legend HISPANIARUM REX. The central field displays a cannon mounted on a wheeled carriage in profile, a characteristic device of certain Spanish Colonial mints, with partial castle and lion shield elements visible at the margins. The surfaces are notably worn and irregular, consistent with the cob (macuquina) striking technique, and the cut edge shows the raw silver of the divided planchet. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
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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.