Official "Post A Counterstamp" Thread....

Is it possibly this--HMS Antelope (H36)

Counterstamped coins typically present something of a mystery for collectors, giving us some clue(s) as to who once held it, when and where. I particularly seek out pieces that offer some hope of solving the mystery. That's why the following piece was appealing to me ...



Surnames like Smith and Jones, lacking more clues, tend to be near impossible to attribute. This one, Zirikelbach, is definitely a rare name. I happened to spot a second counterstamp with this surname but was unable to buy it. That host coin was an 1852 Canadian token. On that specimen, there was a hint of the first initial, appearing to be either the letter U or J. As first names beginning with J are far more common than those beginning with the letter U, that realization help further narrow my search of early, ninteenth century directories.

I subsequently found one J. Zirikelback listed in an 1893 Buffalo, NY directory, working as a "brace polisher." It was quite common for metal workers, smiths, machinists and the like to counterstamp coins, the occupation certainly fits.

If anyone can find another possible issuer for this counterstamp, I'd surely welcome that knowledge. Possibly, this was intended to be a patent stamp or had some other practical use? It probably had nothing to do with advertising, as did so many of the pre Civil War counterstamps. Don't you just love a mystery?

That's true, chequer. Many U.S. counterstamps exist on Canadian tokens ... a cent's worth of copper.

Thanks, Rackster. As counterstamps go, this one isn't a slam-dunk, but it is a strong possibility. To me, working on the mystery is as much fun as actually solving the mystery.

@ExoGuy
Interesting last name, and some very good clues as to its origins.

In memory of someone born in 1820 and died in 1877 and carried as a pocket piece?

Issued by the Royal Hawaiian Mint and has a counterstamp for First day of Issue. This gold counterstamp is unlisted by Krause Publications.

http://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/...-duid-339316

the 1981 reverse looks like an angled wire brush in a rotary tool. Thats how the center remains because the center of the tool had no wires as that is where it needs structure to connect. IT also has the correct direction of the spirals since most rotary tools, at lest all that I know of, spin in counter clockwise direction.

I guess the angel is that of a cuff-link. or a button. The kind that has a case and something inset.

Those are just educated guesses based on the strange things I have seen.