330, Lot: 491. Estimate $500. Sold for $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

HANOVER. George III. 1760-1820. AR Dollar (42mm, 26.89 g, 12h). Oval counterstamp of George III on 1793 Potosi 8 Reales of Charles IIII of Spain. ESC 131; SCBC 3765A. Good VF, discoloration.

From the D.F. Alder Collection.

In the late 18th century, the circulating coinage in Britain was in a pathetic state. Counterfeit coins, both in copper and silver, were the rule, rather than the exception. The Royal mint, rather than competing with the flood of false issues, simply shut its doors.

In 1788, industrialist Matthew Boulton stepped in to attempt reform the copper coinage where the government would not. A wealthy industrialist and partner of the steam-engine inventor James Watt, Boulton had made his fortune manufacturing other small metallic objects. Using the steam technology at his disposal, he created the first modern mint at Soho in Birmingham. Yet Boulton was initially unable to obtain a patent to strike coinage and instead opened his mint to merchants. The vast majority of provincial tokens struck in England at this time originated from the Soho mint.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England endeavored to stabilize the silver coinage. Taking Spanish eight reales coins, they stamped on them a small image of King George, valuing them at a dollar of five shillings. This simple solution did not fair well with the public, as they were extremely easy to counterfeit. The failed issue spawned a popular nursery rhyme, “The Bank to make their Spanish dollars pass/Stamped the head of a fool on the head of an ass.” The Bank soon turned to Boulton and his steam presses. By 1805, fully struck dollars from the Soho mint were in circulation.