| George III Crown 1818 & 1820 |
| GEORGE III CROWN 1816-1820 |
| George III Spanish Oval Countermarked Crown |
| Before the introduction of his own half crowns there were a few foreign coins (mostly Spanish 8 reals) which were countermarked with his bust to make them legal tender in Britain. Spanish 8 reals were already readily available and circulating in Britain at this time but there were also many fakes. So the idea was to countermark these coins and make them legal tender. This also let the public know the coins were genuine, until the introduction of officialy issued crowns. The countermarked coins were first issued with an oval countermark, however these later became counterfeited, so a new octagonal countermark was used instead. In 1804 to further prevent counterfeits a new "Bank Of England Dollar" design was overstruch onto the Spanish 8 real coins. The 1804 dollar was designed by Küchler and minted at the Mathew Boulton mint in Birmingham. Later in 1818 a new crown was designed by Benedetto Pistrucci. It was used until 1820. |
| George III Spanish Octagonal Countermarked Crown |
| Courtesy of CNG www.cngcoins.com |
| Courtesy of CNG www.cngcoins.com |
| George III Crown 1804 Struck Over Spanish dollar (8 Reals) |
| Courtesy of www.avscoins.com |
| Courtesy of Geoffrey Cope www.petitioncrown.com |
| 1804 Silver, 26 grams, 41mm Diameter. 1818-1820 Silver, 28.2 grams, 38mm Diameter. |
