English: A post-medieval coin hoard of three countermarked silver Spanish 8 Reales ("dollars") and four silver shillings.

3: Silver Spanish American 8 Reales ("dollar") of Charles IIII of Spain. Mexico City mint. Obverse: laureate bust right; CAROLUS IIII DEI GRATIA 1801. Countermarked infront of bust with 'S' and on bust with circular stamp inscribed 'Cromford Derbyshire 4|9'. Reverse: Spanish arms between two pillars; HISPAN ET IND REX M(with O above) R F T. 40.0mm in diameter. 26.34g.

Between 1751 and 1816, very few silver coins were minted in Britain due to the financial effects of fighting foreign wars. There was a lack of silver available for minting coins, but many silver Spanish American dollars that had been taken from raided Spanish ships. Royal Mint rules at the time prevented the mint from purchasing silver at a price higher than 5s 2d per ounce, a price much lower that the value of silver, and therefore the Royal Mint could not use these dollars to make new British money. As a result, private tradesmen began stamping Spanish American dollars themselves for use as tokens to conduct trade and pay their workers. These three countermarked Spanish American dollars are known as 'Cromford Dollars'. Cromford mill was built by Richard Arkwright to house his waterpowered cotton spinning machinery. Each Cromford token was issued as a week's wage for one of the workers. The 4|9 on each token represents the token's value of 4 shillings and 9 pence and indicate that these tokens were issued before 1810. Tokens issued after 1810 were stamped or restamped with 5|- as the value of silver bullion had increased. The reverse of each of these Cromford dollars has been defaced so that the Spanish arms are partially erased.

• http://www.numsoc.net/countermarks.html
• http://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital%20BNJ/pdfs/1955_BNJ_28_46.pdf
• http://www.massonmills.co.uk/News/Wins-Silver-2006.html.php