Thaler Thursday: 1848 Prussian Thaler Counterstamp A B Fraley / Marshall / Texas / 1873

Fantastic!

Calling ExoGuy!

Has anyone tried looking up the name?

Thanks, jbuck, for drawing my attention to this thread. I'll see what I can find.

A great many c/s's are unique, and I suspect that this one is, too. The stamping appears to have been done with individual letter punches; this, as opposed to a prepared die. A problem exists for c/s collectors in that unique pieces like this can be fabricated. Brunk cited a number of Texas fantasy counterstamps in his book. That said, I tend to believe this c/s is contemporary.

Meanwhile, I will say that it was quite common for immigrants to bring coins from the old country to the new. I'm not surprised by this host coin, as many Germans emigrated to Texas in the 1800's. They typically settled among countrymen, forming social social groups that shared activities like singing and shooting clubs for example.

P.S. .... I see that this piece realized over $1,400 I the recent Heritage.

Sorry to report that I'm unable to attribute this c/s or even suggest a likely candidate. There were a few prominent men, named Fraley, living in Marshall in the 1870-80's, but they didn't have a first name that began with the letter "A". One of them was Wm. B. Fraley, and A.B. Fraley (same middle initial) may have been a relative, perhaps? I checked out local gravesites and searched Texas newspapers but to no avail.

My guess is that the buyer/bidders either had a personal interest or else found some historical info that I'm presently unable to uncover. I'm hard-pressed to suspect that the bids climbled so high on pure whimsy; this, unless the coin, itself, is some rare variety.