Watch List notes:

MALTA, Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Antoine de Paule. Grandmaster, 1623-1636. AR Tallero (41mm, 26.79 g, 10h). Countermarked issue. De Paule coat-of-arms within incuse struck on reverse of a Dordrecht in Holland mint Leeuwendalder, dated 1589 (P&W Ho22). Cf. V.F. Denaro, "Dutch coins and Maltese countermarks," NC 1963, Fig. D (for c/m and test cut; rev. only illustrated); Restelli & Sammut, pl. LXXXIX, 2 var. (same undertype, but c/m for Alof de Wigancourt), but cf. 3 (for countermark). Good Fine, toned, typical test cut on reverse. Rare.


From the collection of Alexandre Carathéodory Pasha (1833-1906).

Upon his election as Grand Master, Antoine de Paule learned that many local and foreign gold and silver coins then circulating on the island were well below their correct weight because of filing or clipping; some were also counterfeit issues. The result was that daily transactions were slowed significantly by the resulting haggling, due to the wide variances in the currency. In order to counteract this problem, some foreign issues, such as this leeuwendaalder were countermarked with the Grand Master's coat-of-arms, thereby signifying that such marked coinage was at the time considered of correct weight and genuineness to circulate on the island.