370, Lot: 672. Estimate $100. Sold for $260. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MALTA, Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Jean-Paul Lascaris Castellar. Grandmaster, 1741-1773. CU 4 Tarì (33mm, 8.14 g, 12h). Traces of grandmagistral coat-of-arms; c/ms: crowned arms of Aragon, MA monogram, crowned upturned crescent / Traces of clasped right hands; above, double-headed eagle and [date], trace of value below; all within scrollwork; c/ms: double-headed eagle, crowned lis, head of St. John, and agnus Dei. Cf. Restelli & Sammut 62 (for type with c/ms); for c/ms: Restelli & Sammut, pp. 216-7. Countermarks VF, host coin Fair, brown patina.

From the J. Eric Engstrom Collection.

Beginning with Jean-Paul Lascaris Castellar, the countermarking of copper Two and Four Tarì coins occurred between 1636 and 1795 to prevent the prevalent counterfeiting of such coins. Even though heavy fines were imposed on those caught, the practice continued to the point that even the countermarks were being forged. As a result, two of the Grandmasters – Emmanuel Pinto and Emmanuel de Rohan – each employed two different countermarks during their reigns.