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1 Bit Countermark
| Issuer | Grenada |
|---|---|
| Year | 1787 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Triangular silver cut piece, being one-eleventh of a Spanish colonial 8 Reales coin. The obverse bears a deeply struck incuse rectangular countermark enclosing the letter 'G', applied by colonial authorities to validate the piece for circulation in Grenada. Residual devices and legends from the original host coin are visible in the field surrounding the countermark. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Grenada's bit coinage emerged from a chronic shortage of small change that plagued the British Caribbean throughout the eighteenth century. Colonial administrators solved the problem crudely but effectively: Spanish colonial reales were cut into segments and countermarked to circulate at locally assigned values. This particular piece — a fragment of a Spanish silver coin punched with official authority — predates any purpose-struck Grenadian coinage by decades.
The island had been British only since 1763, ceded by France under the Treaty of Paris. Spanish silver still dominated everyday commerce regardless of which flag flew over St. George's.