ANGUILLA: AR liberty dollar, 1967, Bruce-X2, countermark on 1948 Mexico 5 pesos (KM-465), bold dark lettering, NGC graded MS62. These counterstamped coins, "Anguilla Liberty Dollar, July 11, 1967," were made by Scott Newhall, then-editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. Always on the lookout for a zany antic to splash across the editorial pages of the Chronicle, Newhall embraced the so-called Anguillan revolution of 1967. To facilitate commerce for the revolutionaries, Newhall, an avid coin collector, took 11,600 dollar-sized silver coins and counterstamped them in the basement of the Chronicle building in San Francisco. The idea was Newhall would be recompensed for his actual costs, and the new Anguillan government would sell the coins to collectors at a surcharge and keep the profits. It bombed. Just 2,000 to 3,000 were put into commerce, and Newhall was stuck with the balance of the defaced coins, which he eventually sold for the melt price of silver. Many more were melted in the following years and they are now becoming scarce.
Estimate: $140-160