CNG 105, Lot: 1110. Estimate $300. Sold for $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GIBRALTAR. temp. George III. King of Great Britain, 1760-1820. AR Half Bitt (11mm, 1.31 g). Struck circa 1760. Mexican Half Real, dated 1740 Mo MF, with bordered heart shape cut from center. Pridmore 20 (Dominca); KM 16 (Martinique). Countermark Good VF, Host coin: Near VF, toned.

From the J. Eric Engstrom Collection, purchased from B.A. Seaby, September 1963.

Bob Lyall (“Gibraltar Hearts,” in NumCirc XCV.6 [December 2007], p. 306-308) reattributes the Type I and II heart-shaped cut coins, previously assigned to Dominica or Martinique, to the British possession of Gibraltar. Two particular pieces of textual evidence inform this reattribution – a 1748 first-hand account of circulating silver coins with a heart shaped bit removed, and a 1749 order prohibiting the circulation of cut or damaged Spanish coins. Lyall also notes that the dates appearing on the Type III and IV issues are too late for the same attribution to Gibraltar, and the author initially confirmed their attribution to Dominica. Private communication with the author indicates that newly uncovered documentary evidence suggests these later types were also struck in Gibraltar circa 1760.