Historical Study Illuminates Regional Counterstamps
Numismatic History of the State of Los Altos in the Central American Federation is Jovel’s seventh book on various aspects of Central American numismatic history.
Salvadoran author Roberto Jovel has released a significant work on regional counterstamps in Central America during the early days of independence in the mid-nineteenth century. Numismatic History of the State of Los Altos in the Central American Federation is Jovel’s seventh book on various aspects of Central American numismatic history, each of which has brought to light new information advancing our numismatic knowledge of the region.
Los Altos coins have been listed under Guatemala, categorized as countermarks, and attributed as 1838 releases in most references before now. Jovel’s research has established that the type I is a counterstamp issued by Los Altos during its’ independent period from 1839-1840, after the dissolution of the Central American Federation and before reabsorption by Guatemala, making these the only coins issued by this country.
Last year, some of these misconceptions were initially dispelled when Carlos Jara and Carlos Piaz produced a catalog of Los Altos counterstamped coins. Jovel’s book goes further in bringing a better perspective to the era by presenting four distinct aspects of Los Altos: its history, its medals, its coins, and Salvadorian support and solidarity. The text is printed in Spanish and English in a two-column format, making it easy for all to appreciate. At the center of both the Jara/Piaz volume and this new, expanded work rests the coins themselves, many of which were originally collected by Dr. Richard Stuart, whom I believe would be pleased to see this extensive research being undertaken and published.
The release of Jovel’s work has led to complete price revisions for all counterstamped and countermarked coins of Los Altos, El Salvador, and Guatemala in the database at www.numismater.com.
To obtain a copy of the book, write to clasicosroxsil@yahoo.es and request a quotation for the book and parcel post costs to your address.
You may also like:
