GREAT BRITAIN. Great Britain - Mexico. Contemporary Counterfeit Dollar, ND (1797-99). George III. ALMOST UNCIRCULATED.

cf. S-3765A (for prototype); cf. KM-627 (same). Weight: 25.79 gms. Imitating Bank of England type I oval countermark; counterfeit bust of George III within oval indent on a Sheffield plate die struck counterfeit 1791-Mo FM Mexico Transitional Bust 8 Reales of Charles IIII (IV) with ordinal IV and the portrait of Charles III. Both host coin and countermark are of crude manufacture, but very well preserved and very attractive with plenty of remaining luster on both sides. Seldom encountered in the high state of preservation, the present piece is about as nice as one could ask for being a contemporary counterfeit and in many instances is better quality than many legitimate examples of this issue. This prolific issue saw many imitations of the official hallmarks; in fact it is known that numerous counterfeiting operations were in production of such issues. This series is much more complex than many would believe with many variations such as genuine countermarks applied to forged hosts, forged countermarks applied to genuine hosts and counterfeit countermarks applied to the counterfeit hosts. This fascinating series of British numismatics is worthy of further in-depth research from the specialist. Expounding upon this further some of the counterfeiting organizations, presumably those of Birmingham, were really sophisticated often utilizing multiple dies and die parings. By comparison the present example dated "1791" shares the exact same reverse die as the contemporary counterfeit Dollar dated "1777" contained in lot # 24694 (part of), but a different obverse.