Spain. Carlos IV. 8 Reales 1806 Mexico TH Chopmarked - NGC

Country: Mexico - Spanish Colonia
Denomination: 8 reals
Year: 1806
Mint: Mexico (Casa de Moneda de México), Mexico City
Quality: NGC CHOPMARKED
Metal: Silver, 896
Weight: 27,07 g (catalogue weight, actual may vary)
Diameter: 39,00 mm
Literature: KM 109
Description: 1806 Mo T.H. eight reales, one of a type struck 1791-1808. Assayer TH is recorded for the years 1803-10. The eight reales of Charles IV, Mintages are not known. Nearly all colonial pillar dollars were heavily used that most of them are in really low grades, this one seems to be in fine condition. These colonial period coins circulated freely in the many New World colonies and many were lost in shipwrecks. Milled bust coins were minted at the Mexico City mint from 1772 until 1821, when Mexico won its independence from Spain. Like the milled pillar dollar, bust dollars circulated throughout the new worlds, even serving as legal currency in the United States until 1857.

In 1800s East Asia, particularly China, this coin and King Carolus III was favored by merchants and is even said to have 50% premium over other silver coins of equal weight (whose value if accepted are then discounted by about 20-30%). Thus it is quite common to see a version of this coin with chopmarks as it gets validated from one merchant to another.

Chopmarks on coins are Chinese characters stamped or embossed onto coins by merchants in order to validate the weight, authenticity and silver content of the coin. Depending on particular technique coins said to have been "chopmarked", "countermarked" and "counterstamped".