Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 1222. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $550. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

YUGOSLAVIA. Countermarked Austrian AV 4 Ducat (13.18 gm). Dated 1914. FRANC IOS I D G AVSTRIAE IMPERATOR, laureate and mantled bust of Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I right; c/m: small incuse crowned double-headed eagle with 1 left above, at end of legend / HVNGAR BOHEM GAL LOD ILL REX A A 1914, crowned imperial Austrian eagle; ( 4 ) (value) in exergue. For undertype: Friedberg 487; KM 2276; for countermark, see A.N. Brzic. "Yugoslav Countermarks on Austro-Hungarian Coins" in AJN 13 (2001), pp. 109-132 (noting the mark is of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes). Good VF, light scratches. ($500)

In the early 20th century, Balkan countries used these Austrian 4 ducat coins and similar pieces struck in Bulgaria, Russia, and Yugoslavia, as bullion reserves. The various states further marked their bullion supply with small countermarks; the known marks including a sword for Bosnia, a crown for Bulgaria, and a grain ear for Serbia. The present piece, marked with an eagle, is for the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.