Rare 19th Century Clapham Observer token overstamp on French 10 Centimes 1854

Rare 19th Century Clapham Observer token overstamp on French 10 Centimes 1854

In the 19th century, coins were counterstamped with the names of merchants to advertise their products or services. In Britain, it was illegal to deface the British monarch's portrait, so merchants used foreign currency with a counterstamp.

The most well-known example is the British soap company Pears. In 1810, Pears ordered thousands of copper 10 Centimes coins from France, which were the same size as the British pennies, and were generally accepted as pennies in Britain. These French coins were counterstamped "Pears Soap". More info can be found here. 

The Pears tokens are quite common, but the Clapham Observer ones are very rare.