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11/2 Bits Moco
| Issuer | Tobago |
|---|---|
| Year | 1798 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 11/2 Bits (⅐) |
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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 | The obverse displays the countermark applied by the Tobago colonial authority, consisting of the Latin letter 'T' stamped into the central field of the scalloped flan. The countermark is set within a roughly rectangular incuse depression punched into the host coin, which retains portions of the original Spanish colonial 8 Reales milled design, including radial milling lines emanating from the centre. The scalloped periphery, formed by the cutting process, frames the entire surface with a series of rounded lobes characteristic of this type of emergency currency. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain (Cut) |
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| Additional information |
Tobago changed hands between Britain and France repeatedly throughout the late eighteenth century, and the island's chronic shortage of small change forced local authorities into improvised solutions. The 1½ bits "moco" denomination was created by cutting and countermarking Spanish colonial silver — a stopgap measure that reflects just how broken the Caribbean monetary supply had become by the 1790s. Tobago would be ceded permanently to Britain under the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, making this issue one of the last coinage acts of the island's final years of contested sovereignty.