Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 2387. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $2000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JAMAICA. 1758. AR 6 Shillings, 8 Pence (26.66 g, 12h). Large floral G R monogram in circular incuse, countermarked on both sides of an 8 Reales of Mexico, dated 1756 (SCM 104). KM 8.2. VF, toned.

In 1758, the Jamaica Assembly passed an act which provided that some of the new Spanish milled money should be made legal tender and have a fixed value. £100,000 was proposed, and in order to distinguish the re-valued coins, they were countermarked with the initials GR representing the reigning monarch, George II.

The act succeeded in raising the value of the dollar to 6s 8d, and by common consent all coins of this new money, stamped or not, also passed at the 6s 8d per dollar rate. When the home authorities received copies of the local act it was repealed and the Governor of Jamaica censured for exceeding his powers, only £12,000 was countermarked before the project was abandoned in 1759.