8 Reales Type II Counter-mark

Guatemala's post-independence monetary situation was chaotic enough that Spanish colonial 8 reales — and foreign pieces of eight — continued circulating long after independence in 1821. The countermark program was a practical solution to authenticate and officially sanction these coins for domestic use without the expense of a full recoinage. The Type II punch, applied from 1839, replaced an earlier countermark design that had proven too easy to counterfeit.

Host coins vary considerably in origin and date, which means no two countermarked pieces are strictly identical.