This latest acquisition is an unrecorded Countermark on a 1780 Maria Theresa Thaler. Unlike the spurious countermarks found on MTTs this one is most likely genuine and as such, for me, is a wonderfully simple discovery.
With over a 210 year restrike history the knowledge of the MTT is patchy and often contradictory. One writer in the 1970s noted that countermarked pieces were a great way of attributing varieties to likely time of minting. Unfortunately the spurious countermarks muddy this considerably. Not so this unremarkable countermark that seems most likely a war souvenir of the Second World War.
It was an eBay purchase that for once included the known history of the coin. The early part of the story may be a little in doubt but the subsequent chain of ownership seems reliable and informative. As the seller told the story:
“From Mendel Petersons estate (& a favorite coin of mine for years - I paid him $10.00 for it in the 1970's - a hefty price at the time), a circulated silver Austrian taler - these were used extensively for years for trade in the Middle East. It is counterstamped "ADEN 1944". According to Mendel, it was "liberated" from a German prisoner in No. Africa by a British sergeant who then swapped it with an American GI (I'm unsure of what for). The counterstamper is unknown but possibly the Brit. An interesting memento of the North African campaign, I often wish that this coin could talk.” ……………………………………………………….-“ someone once said that we don't own these things, we're only their caretakers for a time & my time is about up. Mendel Peterson was the Smithsonian Institutions only Curator Of Underwater Archaeology & Naval History. He had a large collection of interesting coins.”
Having now received and examined the coin I tend to agree the British soldier was most likely responsible for the counter mark. The seller made the interesting aside that he wished the coin could talk. In actual fact it does “talk” as the base coin is a Paris mint strike of 1937 -1942 vintage (as designated by Hafner). So we know the coin was most likely produced before the formal outbreak of world War II and was exported to Aden (the usual reception port for MTTs. For a while it must have circulated in Yemen before falling into the hands of the counter marker. It was most likely imported by Antonin Besse and Co of Aden, a firm that purchased MTTs from London Brussels and Paris mints. There is also the possibility that it was imported by an Indian firm based in Aden but Antonin Besse and Co. is the best guess.
The German Soldier part of the story becomes a little doubtful though it can not be discounted out right. It is possible that the coin was re-exported from Aden to North Africa where it came into the hands of a German soldier who subsequently became a POW. With the aquisition by the brit it then returned to Aden with him. The reason I doubt this possibility is that it seems less likely (but not impossible) that a Brit soldier was transferred form North Africa to Aden and then decided to make the coin a souvenir of his stay in that port. To me it just seems more likely the Brit was based in Aden in 1944 and used an MTT that was found locally. Another possibility is that instead of a German soldier it was an Italian POW from Ethiopia.
The coin is not overly attractive and the copper sheen evident in the photos did cause questions for me. However the coin is of the right diameter and weight for a Paris mint MTT, it also has has all the requisite markers. This is where the method of application of the countermarks might play a role. With my limited and very fallible knowledge of silver-smithing I believe that the coins surface on the obverse is not toned but has been damaged by heat ( ie: fire scale). Under magnification the typical blue/red colours of fire scale are evident around “ADEN”. The coins surface seems much harder than normal ( more steel like) also a possible indication of the application of heat. It seems to me that to apply the countermark the coin was heated prior to using the punches; this may have allowed some copper to leach out of the alloy to the surface of the coin.
For me this acquisition is an elegantly congruent find. Obviously it isn’t a great numismatic piece but it is a very good marker to time and place and established history of the 1780 MTT. I was thrilled to be able to add it to my collection