Billed by auctioneers as the “first Canadian dollar,” an 1813 Prince Edward Island counterstamped “holey dollar” will cross the block as Lot 32354 of Heritage Auctions Nov. 2-4 Platinum Session.
Certified as Fine-15 by Numismatic Guaranty Company (NGC) and catalogued as Charlton-PE-1A1, the 21.70-gram coin displays “a sunburst counterstamp above a large, punched-out hole” on an 1804 Charles IV eight-reales piece from Mexico.
The counterstamp has rays with 10 denticles, of which seven “are clear” on this example.
“Due to a persistent coin shortage, these historic pieces were deliberately over-valued to assure their continued circulation on the island,” according to auctioneers, who noted the counterstamp has rays with 10 denticles, of which seven “are clear” on this example.
“From a mere handful auctioned in the last 20 years, the present offering stands as the sole finest graded by either NGC or PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service).”
Formerly from the John J. Ford Jr. Collection – sold as Lot 680 in January 2004 – the coin has a current bid of $1,600 US (about $2,200 Cdn.) as of Oct. 10.