Counterstamped Vs. Counterstruck

Never heard of the term counterstruck but I know what overstruck is. Overstrike is when almost all of the surface of the coin is restruck to another denomination such as this:

From this


To this - note of the cross. Should be easier to identify I hope.

G'day,
Shorter Oxford Dictionary, 3rd revision of the 3rd edition, 1992, doesn't define any of these terms. I'll look up "The Big One" next time I'm in town.

CCF Glossary:
"counterstamp" is defined, as explained by SAP;
"counterstruck", "overstamp", and "overstruck" are not defined;
"restrike" is defined, but it is directed to a situation outside the present discussion.

I thought about the recycling of Spanish Dollars by the British, in 1797 & 1804, where both practices referred to above were employed. I had in mind, that some authoritative writer may have used specific words to describe the addition of a small mark to an existing coin (1797); and then used a different term to describe what happened in 1804 - as per SAP's post.
"The Coins of Great Britain" by Thorburn & Grueber, 4th edn 1905, pp 93 & 94: "[The Government] resorted to the extra-ordinary proceeding of issuing Spanish Dollars countermarked with the head of George III ... These counterstruck Dollars were to be current for 5s."
So, they use the terms synonymously. And their description of the 1804 BoE Dollars avoids both words.

Seaby's Standard Catalogue, 22nd edition 1987, p230: refers to the 1797 Dollars as "countermarked" (three times); and the 1804 Dollars as "re-struck" [sic].

I think the bottom line is that these words have not yet taken fixed meanings, and care ought to be exercised in using or interpreting them.

Peter in Oz

I would agree with that, except that I would tend to use "counterstamp" and "countermark" interchangeably. I haven't heard of a strict separation stamp=government, mark=private.