Unknown Uniface Copper Klippe - Sweden, Denmark, Nordics or South Asia Colony?

[levonvrt]

Unknown Uniface Copper Klippe - Sweden, Denmark, Nordics or South Asia Colony?

I am having a bit of trouble with this piece... I'm guessing the lettering here is ZIÅR or ZAÅR.

My best guess is Swedish, Dutch or South Asian colonial issues.

13.26 grams
18-20 by 40 mm

[Figleaf]

The crosslet 4 (I don't think it is an A) is often used in 17th and 18th century bale marks. I am just guessing, but this may be ship ballast: weight to keep an empty ship stable. The Z4 mark may refer to the company owning the ship.

Swedish long range ships routinely carried copper as ballast. The captain or the on-board merchant was supposed to sell the copper opportunistically as the ship took more valuable merchandise on board. I would have expected ballast copper to be heavier items, but small pieces may have been handy for filling awkward nooks in the hold or for stabilising the ballast, so that it would not shift in heavy weather: shifting loads will sink a ship.

Peter

[FosseWay]

The crosslet 4 (I don't think it is an A) is often used in 17th and 18th century bale marks. I am just guessing, but this may be ship ballast: weight to keep an empty ship stable. The Z4 mark may refer to the company owning the ship.

Swedish long range ships routinely carried copper as ballast. The captain or the on-board merchant was supposed to sell the copper opportunistically as the ship took more valuable merchandise on board. I would have expected ballast copper to be heavier items, but small pieces may have been handy for filling awkward nooks in the hold or for stabilising the ballast, so that it would not shift in heavy weather: shifting loads will sink a ship.

Peter

This doesn't ring any Swedish bells for me. Peter is right about using copper as ballast, but precisely because the captain could/needed to sell the copper, it was generally carried as denominated "coinage" (plåtmynt) stamped with date and royal cypher. I don't know whether merchants were allowed to mark copper themselves and sell it, or whether they weren't allowed to but did it anyway. If they did, then this could be such a mark, but it could equally be from anywhere else. It doesn't match a Swedish regal mark AFAIK.

[levonvrt]

Thanks for giving me some leads, googling Balemarks helps take the search in a different direction... but no cigar yet!

[levonvrt]

The most likely answer is... this is a Mexican hacienda token!

[brandm24]

Any particular hacienda, levonvert? Somehow it doesn't strike me as a hacienda token but if you've seen information that leads you in that direction then you may be right. I'm not an expert on these issues but have seen a number of them over the years.

Bruce