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1815 25C --"L" Countermark, Cleaned--ANACS. AU53 Detail

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1815 25C -- L  Countermark, Cleaned--ANACS. AU53 Detail
<B>1815<25C>--"L" Countermark, Cleaned--ANACS. AU53 Details.</B></I> B-1, R.1. The "E" and "L" countermarked quarters of 1815 and 1825 have fascinated and frustrated numismatists since their first documented appearance 1881. Certain peculiarities of these coins are generally accepted as truisms by most of the numismatic community. First, virtually all pieces grade from XF to Uncirculated. Second, the E and L letter punches utilize similar scripts, and the resultant letters exhibit a consistent location relative to Liberty's head (the E sits directly over the cap, while the L sits left of the cap's peak). Third, the E countermark appears to be more plentiful than the L, and there seems to be more 1815 coins than 1825 examples. Fourth, the coins first appeared (1881) in the Tri-State area around Pittsburgh, and made a second appearance in 1968-1972 in the same area.<BR> Numerous theories have been proposed to explain these enigmatic coins. These range from suggestions that the countermarks were applied at the Mint, perhaps to identify the coin's weight (<B>L</B></I> ight vs. <B>E</B></I> xcess), or for some sort of "test" purposes, through their use as school prizes (<B>E</B></I> nglish vs. <B>L</B></I> atin), to their being indicators of ownership. An interesting working hypothesis advanced by Ted McAuley in the July 2004 <I>John Reich Journal</B></I> connects these coins to the 19th century "Harmony" or "Economite" Society in Economy, Pennsylvania. He suggests that they served as either voting or accounting tokens during the "Great Schism" that developed in the Society in the early 1830s between George Rapp, founder and spiritual leader or the Harmonists or Economites (E) and a dissenter, Count Leon (L). The 1815 and 1825 dates, according to McCauley, were the founding dates of the Society's last two settlements, and may have reflected the seniority status of the voters and the weight of their financial cl