Special Collections
Create new listThe Alloa colliery, owned by John Francis Erskine of Mar, was run by his mine superintendent, Alexander Bald (†1823). Erskine was a relatively enlightened employer for the times, In the early years of the 19th century he abolished the practice of miners’ wives carrying the mined coal to the surface - substituting iron narrow gauge raliways and carriages instead.
Merchant Issues - silver, Scotland, CLACKMANNANSHIRE, Alloa, Alloa Colliery, a contemporary base metal counterfeit of a MEXICO, Charles IIII, 8 Reales, 1794fm, Mexico City, obv. countermarked payable at alloa colliery + around 5/ incuse, 25.73g/12h (Manville 5; Hodge 005aS.010a, this coin; KM. CC1). Host good fine, countermark nearly very fine £1,000-£1,200
This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Scottish Merchant Dollars from the Collection of Michael Gietzelt.
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Collection
F.S. Cokayne Collection, Glendining Auction, 17-18 July 1946, lot 133; SNC February 1947 [45967]; S.A.H. Whetmore Collection, Glendining Auction, 14 July 1961, lot 236; SNC September 1961 (9798)
All the existing countermarked issues of this business occur on base metal counterfeits, possibly made in Birmingham. if they circulated as intrinsic coins, this would suggest a period of between 1800-1810. However, it is possible that these pieces did not pass as genuine coins but were issued as a purely token coinage, only acceptable in the Colliery and its environs. If so, these are the only instance of this arrangement in the whole ‘silver’ series [Manville pp.12-13].
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