|
|
Cached data
| |
Image may be scaled down and subject to copyright |
| Name: |
(1784) New York regulation countermark on 1769 Brazil, Bahia mint, 6,400 reis host. Fr-69. |
| Description: |
13.95 grams. Obverse counterstamped with script B in round cartouche above eye on Brazil
host (Fr-69, genuine Rio dies). Unplugged, lightly filed at rim from 1:00 to 4:00 relative
to the obverse to reduce the weight to 215.3 grains, in line with the New York standard of
1784 (216 grains for a Joe of 6400 reis). The original edge device is still in place
elsewhere. Even light yellow gold with some faint hairlines and traces of lustre, some
coppery toning inside rim at top of reverse. Burger's script B is slightly higher than its
usual position directly atop the eye. Researcher William Swoger is credited as the first
to properly identify this mark -- Wood attributed it to Berbice while Pridmore did not
understand why it was often found with other marks and called it "doubtful."
Gordon and the cataloguer of the Murdoch collection correctly identified its North
American provenance but not its actual maker. Burger, a silversmith who worked with the
famous Myer Myers in his youth but worked independently by 1784, used a mark on his
silverware that used the precise same B but with BURGER spelled out; this mark and his
silver work are relatively common. Research by Swoger, published in a privately printed
1999 monograph and in a 1992 Coin World article, also found documentary evidence
connecting him to the Bank of New York as a regulator of gold coin; he advertised himself
as a "regulator" in contemporary newspapers as well (New York Packet and
American Advertiser of January 1, 1784). As the arbiter of weights of gold coin for the
Bank of New York, he stamped many coins and his marks are more common than most American
silversmith regulators -- there are three in this collection, including one filed above
under Martinique. This piece would have been current at $8.00 by the Federal standard. A
far finer example than others we have seen. ($5,000-8,000)An entry in Thomas Jefferson's
memorandum book dated November 30, 1793 almost certainly refers to one of these Joes
regulated to the New York standard. In Philadelphia on the date in question, he records a
visit to a merchant friend named John Bringhurst, who functioned at Jefferson's banker
while in Philadelphia. In July of that year, Bringhurst had advanced Jefferson (who was
always in debt) money against his October paycheck. The line of interest to us in
Jefferson's financial memoranda reads: |
| Price: |
$28,750.00 (2005-04-15) |
| Original page: |
http://www.stacks.com/lotdetail.aspx?lri
d=AN00020688
|
|
