Maltese Obsidional Coins
Siege Silver Ingot Of 30 Tari
Obverse: Maltese cross counter marked in the centre; two additional countermarks one in each corner of the ingot.
Reverse; Square countermark showing the letters CA at the top right side; two additional countermarks one in each corner of the ingot as in the obverse.
Amongst the rarest of siege coins are the Siege Ingots. Previously only five pieces of the Obsidional Ingot have been recorded. This Siege Ingot is the sixth Ingot recorded. The Siege Ingots were given as pay to the French Troops but instead of being melted down it found it's way to another country were later it was over struck and was used again as an emergency coinage. These Obsidional Coins were struck in a besieged city to supply the want of current coins.
See Emmanuel Azzopardi's 'Malta The History Of The Coinage'
This was brought in by a private collection Ex 'Joseph Ed. Doublet' from the U.S.A.
As quoted in the above mentioned book 'Malta The History Of The Coinage' here is the following information which is of great interest.
Denaro in the 'Numismatic Chronicle, Sixth Series, Vol XVIII, 1958, 'The Maltese Obsidional Coins Of 1800' gives us a very detailed report of these rare pieces. Denaro lists five recorded specimens:
a. Countess Luisa Strickland Collection, first traced by Mr. P. Stettiner
b. P. Stettiner, described and illustrated a second specimen in RIN XXVI, no. 1, April 10, 1913, p. 89 under the heading 'Una Moneta Obsidionale di Malta'.
c. A third coin was auctioned in Paris by M. Emile Bourgey on 29 April 1953 Lot 30. ~ Bought by a dealer and resold to a collector of French coins of the Napoleonic epoch.
d. A Fourth coin was auctioned by Messrs. Sotheby & Co. in Cairo; Collection of the Ex King Farouk on 24 February p. 247, Lot 2403
e. Another specimen was also sold at an auction in Paris by M. Etienne Ader, assisted by M. Emile Bourgey on 23 June 1954, Lot 110 ~ Bought by a dealer and now in the collection of a lady collector.
The first mention of these Obsidional Coins was ,made by P. Stettiner when he met Countess Luisa Strickland, a well known collector of Maltese coins but it was not until 1913 that he could describe and illustrate this specimen.
Denaro remarks that it will not be amiss if some of the peculiarities concerning the coins in question are noted. By Article V of the of an Order issued in Malta by Napoleon Bonaparte on 28 Prairial, year VI of the republic (16 June 1978), it was prohibited to show coats of arms both on the interior and on the exterior of buildings. It is therefore difficult to find an explanation as to why the Eight Pointed cross of the Order should have been struck by the French on the coins under review. All the coins of the French Republic show the year according to the Republican calendar. So why do the Obsidional coins struck in Malta during this period show the year 1800 according to the Gregorian Calendar ?