r/ChopmarkedCoins

I’m an amateur and budget coin collector who focuses on Spanish Colonial coins. I have had some great experiences in the last couple years meeting amazing people who help keep the passion and history alive. My local coin shop knows I like shipwreck coins and one day they said they found a bar in the back the owner had purchased 20 years prior that was believed to be from a shipwreck. It’s a 56 pound bar with many stamps such as the one identifying the receiver ( N with s), tax stamps and purity indicator that’s almost impossible to decipher. It also has the stamp CXVI, I believe this is the serial number for the ship manifest. I believe the divots you see on the sides are from the tool they used to pull the bar out of the mold while it was still hot! Such an amazing piece of history. When I was roating it for photos and sand started poring out of a hole on the side and I’m not ashamed to admit I put it in a coin case and kept it haha

John at the Mel Fisher treasure store was able to help me track down another bar with the same N s stamp, it was from the Maravillas wreck. I reached out to Dan Sedwick and he had not sold this bar previously I’m also reached out to heritage but have not heard back and plan to go through there old records. My goal is to track it down to its origin before it goes on sale, I’m convinced it’s Maravillas but I have fun out of ways to find more leads. I reached out to many big Instagram and YouTube collectors as well as AllenX the company currently working the Maravillas wreck. How do you all go about fining old catalogs from auctions and such? I would love to poor through them and try and find the bar as well as a stamped 7.5 reales I own believed to be from Maravillas.

Most of just wanted to share this fun and awesome journey I have been on with this incredible piece of history and would love any feedback on what I should do from here, they are considering just putting it up at Sedwick but we all want to get the full history of it first.

In love with the way chop marks makes every coin unique. Now my go too

I recently participated in the auction of the world-renowned chopmarked coin collector, Edgar Murphy, hosted by Stack’s & Bowers. As a chopmark enthusiast, I was eager to secure a "centerpiece" for my future collection. The bidding was intense, with collectors from around the globe fighting over items until the early hours of the morning. Eventually, I managed to snag this unique piece at a price I could afford.

The Coin at First Glance

This is an 8 Reales silver coin originally minted in 1802 at the Mexico City Mint, then a Spanish colony. It carries two distinct marks of its history:

Chinese Chopmarks: Evidence that the coin circulated in China.

The King's Portrait: A small, clear countermark of King George III of Great Britain.

Historical Background: The Emergency Issue

In 1796, Britain was embroiled in the Anglo-Spanish War. To ease financial strain, the British captured Spanish merchant ships laden with silver dollars.

On March 3, 1797, the Treasury issued a warrant to the Tower Mint:

"These are to authorize and direct you to prepare the necessary means of Stamping the Mark of the King's Head... on such Silver Spanish Dollars as shall be sent to your office from the Bank of England.".

Between 1797 and 1799, these coins were stamped with an oval portrait of George III to make them legal tender in Britain. In 1804, a second batch was issued with an octagonal stamp.

The Mystery: An "Impossible" Date?

When I first received the coin, I didn't think it was a "unique" piece. However, after world-famous chopmarked coin expert Taylor Leverage compared it to another coin on Reddit, a British countermark enthusiast raised a red flag.

The contradiction: The oval countermark was officially used between 1797–1799, but my coin was minted in 1802. The enthusiast claimed the mark must be a later forgery. This raised a huge question: How did PCGS—a top-tier grading service—authenticate a coin with such a glaring date discrepancy?.

The Investigation

I searched for answers and found that my coin isn't the only "anomaly."

Numista Records: Professional sources state that the oval dies remained available for many years after the official issue, and were used to stamp various foreign coins specifically for collectors.

Auction Evidence: I found an 1807 coin with the "1797-1799" oval stamp , as well as 1805/1807 coins with the 1804 octagonal stamp. See pictures.

《The Bank of England Countermarked Dollars, 1797-1804 》https://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/2000_BNJ_70_11.pdf, in page 17, there is a picture of two samples.

Why This Coin is a "Rare Treasure"

While other "late" countermarked coins exist, mine is uniquely significant:

1, It proves the continued use of the George III oval die on later-dated host coins.

2, Crucially, it is the only known "late" George III countermarked coin that also bears Chinese chopmarks..

It represents a global journey: minted in Mexico (1802), stamped in England (post-1802), and eventually circulating through the trade routes of China.

What do you guys think? Have you ever seen a "late" official stamp on a host coin that shouldn't exist?

Edit: Typo in the title I meant 1907. Finally got a "real" one of these for a price I'm happy with, it being a singular chop with great placement is an added bonus.

1773 Charles III 8 Reales that apparently circulated for a century in China based on the early small chops and the larger, later chops. I loved the juxtaposition of all of the years and types of chops and got it for a great price!

Saw this 8 cob on HA last night - the "chopmark" looks more like a counter stamp...has anyone seen a "chop" like this?

Went to the Denver Coin Expo today, the selection of Chopmarked coins was absolutely pitiful, literally saw 5 chopped coins in total, a few UST$ a Carlos IV 8R and a torched cap and rays, all grossly overpriced. Then among a selection of various shipwreck coins, from a seller who specializes in them, some with paperwork some without, I spot this. The seller said that this coin has been in his collection for around a decade and that he had just recently pulled it out (with the age of the stickers on the flip I believe him). He also claimed he picked this up in Jacksonville, and that it was from a shipwreck somewhere in that region, but he is unsure of the specific wreck. Without that information it's obviously impossible to prove. While shipwreck coins with chops are known they are rather uncommon as China was almost exclusively importing silver, so for a coin to make it from Mexico to China, pick up a chopmark, then make it back is exceptional, but not unheard of. The coin doesn't have any extreme salt water damage like is sometimes common but it does have the deep black color that you often see with silver coins from salt water. Either way I got it for a bargain ($200, the price sticker also looks old lol) so I'm happy.

I saw this chopped coin at the Las Vegas Numismatic Society coin show a few weeks back. It was in a double holder to allow for the dishing caused by the multiple chops. If I hadn't been on a mission for Seated Dollars to finish my 7070, I probably would have left with it.

Finally got my first chopped 1600s coin! Whoever hacked this piece in two certainly did it with little regard for doing it evenly, as this half weighs 16.87g, meaning it would actually be just over 5 Reales. The numerous hack marks around the cut tell me that's probably not what they were going for.

I posted about the front of the coin but i did not show the reverse of the coin. Looks to have 3 different chopmarks on the reverse. Thank you.

All except for the 5c with the large chop were listed with no mention of their chops. I initially didn't have much of an interest in ink chops, but the IGC slabbed 20c caught my attention with its one clear ink chop and 2 additional remnant ink chops, and the other HK 5c with the partial ink chop was dirt cheap. There is a surprising amount of stuff out there for low cost if you just dig!

Edit: Forgot to add the slabbed HK 10 Cents https://imgur.com/a/NF5x80i Both slabs are additional pickups from the Stack's Bowers Hong Kong auction. The 1870 Yen has been one of my dream pickups since I started collecting chops, so I was thrilled to grab this for a great price ($220) the day before the Murphy sale. It also features a mostly illegible multi-character chop and a chop with a shape I've never seen before. The slabbed HK 10 cents is intriguing because, according to the listing, the chops are the seal script version of Jing "京." (I also just found out a Rose HK 10 Cents had an identical chop https://www.reddit.com/r/ChopmarkedCoins/s/llIRkpZTQm) My research into seal script yielded little besides it being the ancient form of Chinese writing, so any known info on chops of this style would be appreciated. Found the HK 10 cents with the two small style chops on eBay for 8 bucks with no mention of chops, so I'll take that any day. Lastly, I found this Ink Chopped 10 Yuan in a dollar bin at the coin expo. Has anyone here attempted to put together a serious collection of ink-chopped bills?