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CHILE, La Serena, 4 reales, volcano-over-SER. countermark (1833) on an Argentina (Potosí) 4 reales,

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins By Country Start Price:7,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD
CHILE, La Serena, 4 reales, volcano-over-SER. countermark (1833) on an Argentina (Potosí) 4 reales,
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CHILE, La Serena, 4 reales, volcano-over-SER. countermark (1833) on an Argentina (Potosí) 4 reales, 1815 F, extremely rare, NGC FR 2, c/s VF standard, ex-Brand (stated on label). KM-113. 12.29 grams. 32 mm. By decree of March 29, 1833, the newly established Chilean Treasury offices at Chiloé, Concepción, La Serena, Santiago, Valdivia, and Valparaíso were authorized to countermark the distinctive sunface coinage of the Argentine River Plate Provinces struck at the Potosí mint in 1813 and 1815, following an August 17, 1832, ban on the substandard-fineness La Rioja-mint issues of the 1820s in the same design, in order to allow the earlier coins to circulate. The corresponding Treasury abbreviations were CHIL., CON., SER., SAN., VALD. and VALP., each appearing under the Chilean volcano motif within a beaded circle. All six Treasury countermarks are very rare today.

La Serena’s SER. countermark is the second most frequently encountered of the six Treasury marks, but the existence of a number of old false countermarks requires careful authentication. The genuine La Serena punches have been established through direct punch comparison, die study, and examination of important early pedigrees.

At present, only six genuine SER. countermarks are recorded: three examples on 4 reales and two on 8 reales, plus a single-known example on a gold 8 escudos. The present 4-reales example carries an exceptional old provenance to the Virgil Brand Collection in the Schulman auction of November 1964, lot 3740. While the host coin is rather worn (Fair 2, in NGC's estimation), the countermark is deeply impressed, with all features visible (VF), placed in the center of the host’s date arms side, which despite the wear exhibits a clear date 1815, assayer F, Potosí monogram mintmark, and denomination 4-R (not 4 soles as the NGC label states in error). The other side shows all the rays and legend, but the sunface itself is effaced by the application of the countermark, as it seems the Chilean authorities were intentionally trying to center the mark. Deep, colorful toning pervades throughout.

Needless to say, this is a major rarity combining the first independent coinage of Argentina with one of Chile’s very rare official Treasury countermarks, an important coin for the specialists of both nations. Pedigreed to the Virgil Brand Collection (Schulman auction of November 1964, lot 3740).
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