British Colony Counterstamped 12 Bitts ND (1811-1814) VF35 NGC, KM12.4, WR-10, Elizondo-St.V1 (Very Rare), Prid-10, Wood, "The Coinage of the West Indies and the Sou Marqué," pg. 17, Fig. 66 = ANS-1913.129.32, Byrne, "The World's 'Holey' Dollars," pp. 338-339 (R6). 17.80gm. Displaying S XII countermark (XF Strong) above a large punched-out hole on a Charles IV 8 Reales 1805 LM-JP from Peru (cf. KM97). An extraordinarily challenging type within the cut and counterstamped West Indies series, and one which occurs with only great infrequency on the auction market, our research indicating that the present coin is perhaps one of a mere 3 examples to become available in the last 20 years. Already made quite scarce owing to contemporary legislation on the currency--which devalued the denomination from 9 Shillings to 4 Shillings 1-1/2 Pence in January 1815 before all such issues were subsequently withdrawn from circulation in 1823--our 2006 listing of this piece suggested that perhaps as few as 6-8 genuine examples were then known. What is more striking, however, is the rarity of the host. Although the Standard Catalog of World Coins assigns this subtype the lowest price of its four entries for the issue (KM12.1-12.4), the ex. Roehrs/Rudman/Pridmore/Noble specimen, the Wood/ANS example, and the ex. Climpson/Gordon/Ford piece, as well as the Raymond/KM12.3 plate coin, were struck on Mexican hosts, with the fact that the Byrne/Elizondo/KM12.1 plate coin is on a Bolivian host suggesting that the KM12.4 entry may in fact be referring to this exact coin. Even more fascinating, the type was altogether missing from Jess Peters' Sale 78 of the Ray Byrne Collection. As a type that is almost always seen well-circulated, the fact that the offering retains a subtly glossy sheen coupled gunmetal and gold cabinet patina certainly endows it with a one-of-a-kind eye appeal worthy of the closest consideration. Ex. Whittier Collection (Heritage Auction #410, June 2006, Lot 17615); Howard D. Gibbs Collection (Hans Schulman March 1966, Lot 1838)

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