Mexican Coin With A Possible Canada Connection? | Gr 5 Ord

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There is a once-famous series of countermarked pieces that is entirely spurious. The first GR/5/ORD countermark on a Spanish dollar appeared in England in 1890, and a prominent numismatist was deceived into writing an article about it to establish it as a genuine discovery. It purported to have been made under the terms of the Ordinance of 1764 which fixed the dollar at 6/- currency in the colony of Quebec. The fraud might never have been exposed had the "discoverers" been content with only the one variety, but they were not. They produced over the years 1890 to 1914 four variations purporting to follow the changes in Canadian currency regulations and the fall of the dollar to 5/- currency. As if that were not enough, modern fakers went to work and came up with two more variations. Two fundamental points are enough to expose all these as fraudulent. First, counterstamping was illegal under the 1764 Ordinance, being considered a type of mutilation. The authorities did not wish to see the evils of the West Indian colonial coinages spread into Canada. Last, the fakers neglected to countermark specimens of the subdivisions, which circulated in Canada in proportionate values to the dollar. Why not? This is a serious omission on the part of the fakers. It was 1964 before these pieces were finally exposed.