As there's no section on countermarked coins, this seemed like the best place to put this. I have - pictured below - a US cent from 1843, countermarked "J.M." on the obverse side. Does anyone have an idea how much this might be worth or what this particular countermark might be/mean? Are countermarked coins typically a certain percentage higher in value than non-countermarked ones? Thanks!
The J.M. is on the reverse side. The obverse is where lafy liberty's bust is. This would normally be worth abotu $20 - $25, but the counterstamp hurts the value. I have a few nice coins that are counterstampled and it's a shame because they'd be worth a pretty penny otherwise. I would guess it's be worth about $10 - $15 on ebay.
some people actually collect counter struck coins. I am not sure this is one of the counter struck initials that people collect or not but I believe I have seen others show coins that were struck with the same initials on them
Maverick counterstamps generally devalue a coin unless it is a very ornate or unusual counterstamp. The value can increase dramatically once a counterstamp is identified, that can be the hard part but reference books do exist.
I looked at an online list of counterstamps but didn't see yours listed. There is a small # of collectors of these things, but the price of some counterstamps has apparently been increasing recently. I personally view them all as damaged coins, but that's my Two Cents.
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