Heritage World Coin Auctions
CICF Signature Sale 3032 Online Sessions 15-16 April 2014
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Honduras
Eight Diverse Atypical and Rare Tokens, Final group offered, after four auctions presenting over 100 different tokens from a country whose national token production was always highly limited with most produced over a century ago, are eight special issues. Burchard Hond. Fruit Co. 20.5mm brass 6 ¼ Centavos features a stalk of bananas which almost look to be a pineapple. Rulau Hon -6 illustrates this attractive design and values it at $300 in VF; this piece is lightly polished but better than Very Fine for wear. Dana conjected it might be from Puerto Burchard and wrote that it was likely scarcer than its counterpoint 12 ½ Centavos shown as Hon -5. Our research points to issuance slightly post 1891 by USA consular agent William Burchard who founded this fruit company near the mouth of the Sangrelaya River when it became obvious to him that excessive profits were being made. Olanchito 20.6 mm brass Medio Real or 6 ¼ Centavos dated 1910 is only scarce but nearly all seem in horrid condition as is this etched piece; Olanchito is a bit inland SE of La Ceiba. Third is 25.7 mm octagonal brass in EF+ with much luster valued at "Un Medio" by Geo. D. Emery of Honduras. This gentleman operated a prominent company in British Honduras lauded by the USA in 1906 which by 1901 was already competing with Pittsburgh - Honduras Company (see the Puerto Cortez lot above) cutting mahogany and cedar trees. From Yoro department is a shoe store token showing El Progresso, itself a "company town" well off the coast in NW Honduras. It was, and is, a crossroads for banana and other agricultural traffic. The style of this somewhat-etched copper (or oxidized brass) 27mm piece seems more modern than most of the Honduras series; with its value 10 ¢ we are guessing it might be from the early Lempira era of circa 1931. Fifth is a well circulated 24mm brass featuring a big USA-style eagle and Fidencio Farias; an identical piece is illustrated on the Internet as TC- 63809. What is compelling about its design, and begs for attribution to Honduras, is the other-side showing both "Vale Medio Real" and 6 ¼ CTS. The final three pieces are national coinage countermarked for private usage. Rulau Hon-7 is a CuNi ¼ Real of 1869 with incused countermark "O" above "HPC". Rulau Hon-23 is a related CuNi ½ Real 1869 with incused countermark of an anchor dividing "T - M" and a second anchor standing alone on the other side. Final piece is a "provisional one peso" of 1862 shown by Rulau as Hon-29 with letters "S" and "V" incused near the pyramid. This VF+ piece has the S retrograde. Quite a remarkable ending to the presentation of this very special, and unprecedented, collection offering. From The Dana Roberts Collection and Study Group
Estimate: 500-1000 USD
Eight Diverse Atypical and Rare Tokens, Final group offered, after four auctions presenting over 100 different tokens from a country whose national token production was always highly limited with most produced over a century ago, are eight special issues. Burchard Hond. Fruit Co. 20.5mm brass 6 ¼ Centavos features a stalk of bananas which almost look to be a pineapple. Rulau Hon -6 illustrates this attractive design and values it at $300 in VF; this piece is lightly polished but better than Very Fine for wear. Dana conjected it might be from Puerto Burchard and wrote that it was likely scarcer than its counterpoint 12 ½ Centavos shown as Hon -5. Our research points to issuance slightly post 1891 by USA consular agent William Burchard who founded this fruit company near the mouth of the Sangrelaya River when it became obvious to him that excessive profits were being made. Olanchito 20.6 mm brass Medio Real or 6 ¼ Centavos dated 1910 is only scarce but nearly all seem in horrid condition as is this etched piece; Olanchito is a bit inland SE of La Ceiba. Third is 25.7 mm octagonal brass in EF+ with much luster valued at "Un Medio" by Geo. D. Emery of Honduras. This gentleman operated a prominent company in British Honduras lauded by the USA in 1906 which by 1901 was already competing with Pittsburgh - Honduras Company (see the Puerto Cortez lot above) cutting mahogany and cedar trees. From Yoro department is a shoe store token showing El Progresso, itself a "company town" well off the coast in NW Honduras. It was, and is, a crossroads for banana and other agricultural traffic. The style of this somewhat-etched copper (or oxidized brass) 27mm piece seems more modern than most of the Honduras series; with its value 10 ¢ we are guessing it might be from the early Lempira era of circa 1931. Fifth is a well circulated 24mm brass featuring a big USA-style eagle and Fidencio Farias; an identical piece is illustrated on the Internet as TC- 63809. What is compelling about its design, and begs for attribution to Honduras, is the other-side showing both "Vale Medio Real" and 6 ¼ CTS. The final three pieces are national coinage countermarked for private usage. Rulau Hon-7 is a CuNi ¼ Real of 1869 with incused countermark "O" above "HPC". Rulau Hon-23 is a related CuNi ½ Real 1869 with incused countermark of an anchor dividing "T - M" and a second anchor standing alone on the other side. Final piece is a "provisional one peso" of 1862 shown by Rulau as Hon-29 with letters "S" and "V" incused near the pyramid. This VF+ piece has the S retrograde. Quite a remarkable ending to the presentation of this very special, and unprecedented, collection offering. From The Dana Roberts Collection and Study Group
Estimate: 500-1000 USD