BRITISH, Hanover. George III, 1760-1820. Dollar (Silver, 39 mm, 27.12 g, 12 h), countermarked in London on a Spanish Colonial 8 Reales from Carlos IV from Lima, type 1 with oval countermark, 1797-1799. CAROLUS•IIII•DEI•GRATIA/•1794• Laureate and cuirassed bust of Carlos IV to right, countermark: bust of George III facing to right within an oval indent. Rev. •HISPAN•ET IND•REX•LIMAE•8R•I•J• Crowned coat of arms. KM 634. SCBC 3765A. Nicely toned. Tiny scratches on the obverse of the host coin, otherwise, host coin fine, countermark good very fine.


By the late eighteenth century, Britain’s monetary circulation had all but collapsed. Locally issued tokens circulated alongside a flood of counterfeit copper and silver coins. Most serious of all was the acute shortage of good silver money, a problem the Royal Mint in London proved unable to solve through fresh coinage. Virtually all silver of intrinsic value was being siphoned off overseas to help finance the wars against Napoleon.

To ease the shortage, Spanish Colonial 8 Reales were imported and countermarked with a small punch bearing the portrait of King George III, applied to the bust of Carlos IV of Spain. These overstruck dollars were initially rated at four shillings and nine pence, but they never won lasting acceptance in everyday circulation in Britain. Contemporary satire was quick to seize on the absurdity, capturing public sentiment in a biting rhyme:
'The Bank to make their Spanish dollars pass
Stamped the head of a fool on the head of an ass'.