Hejaz

According to Joel Anderson, Coins of the Middle East, and Hans Wilski, Countermarks on Ottomark Coins, coins of the Ottoman Empire were counterstamped "al-Hejaz" (al-ḥiğāz) by Husain ibn Ali at his mint in Mecca during and after World War I.; The counterstamp was applied on the obverse side of the coins, over the Ottoman Sultan's toughra, to obliterate and refute Ottoman rule in Hejaz. This applies to 20 and 40 para Nickel coins struck in Constantinople (KM 761, 766, 779, 828). Al-Hejaz counterstamps on Ottoman Nickel coins are commonly considered authentic (except for forgeries of the time). Two well defined and similar counterstamps were used.

The authenticy of silver coins with Al-Hejaz counterstamps is doubtful. The Standard Catalog of World Coins (1991 edition) writes:

"Caution should be exercised in the purchase of any of the Hejaz countermarked coins. The authenticy of most of the pieces on the market today is the subject of controversy, particularly pieces other than the Maria Theresa Talers from the Vienna Mint, the Turkish 20 Piastres and 10 Piastres of A.H. 1327, and the Turkish 20 and 40 Para nickel pieces...Also the small 6mm size countermark is not believed to be original. Any coin dating after 1923 with the countermark is most doubtful."

Wilski concludes that all Hejaz counterstamps on Maria Theresa Talers are modern forgeries, and he provides a number of very compelling arguments to support this conclusion.

In Unusual World Coins, 4th edition, we find the following remark about Hejaz counterstamps on Maria Theresa Talers.

These spurious or questionable countermarks found on Maria Theresa restrike thalers appared in the numismatic market in the early 1970s. All are much larger than the official countermark. There does not appear to be any signs of heavy circulation wear on the reverse, merely flattened designs from the heavy countermarking.

Unusual World Coins lists five different countermarks, all different to the ones in my collection shown below.

Hafner	Host coin	Obverse	Reverse
unlisted	H63 (London, 1936-1961)
H121	H41 (Venice, 1840-1866)
unlisted	H60 (Vienna, 1945-1960)
unlisted	H60 (Vienna, 1945-1960)

The specimen on H60 and H63 are obviously not authentic. The specimen on H41 might possibly be authentic. However, the counterstamp variant on this coin does not match the authentic counterstamp on Ottoman nickel coins, so its authenticy is also very questionable.

None of the Hejaz counterstamp variants in my collection is listed in the Wilski catalog, even though Wilski lists a total of nine variants, eight of which he identifies as forgeries.

Additional variants are listed in the Saudi Arabia section of Zeno - Oriental Coins Database. Most of those are identified as fake/forgeries on the site.

Hafner lists Hejaz counterstamps on Maria Theresa Talers as Hafner 121 and 123 to 130, sometimes together with Nejd counterstamps.

Nejd

The Nejd (nağd) counterstamp can be found on a large number of different coins, including Maria Theresa Talers. Presumably, it was used from about 1906 to 1920 or 1926. Like the Hejaz counterstamp, the authenticy of this counterstamp is doubtful.Wilski writes:


Stephen Album writes in his Price List 79 (1991):

Unusual World Coins has the following remark about Nejd counterstamps on Maria Theresa talers and other coins.

I have several Maria Theresa Thalers with Nejd counterstamp in my collection.

Host coin	Obverse	Reverse
H63 (London, 1936-1961)
H63 (London, 1936-1963)
H60 (Vienna, 1945-1960)
H60 (Vienna, 1945-1960)

 Obviously, all of those are not authentic.

None of the Nejd counterstamp variants in my collection are listed by Hafner or Wilski. Hafner lists four variants (H122, H124, H125, and H126). Wilski lists five variants, all of which he identifies as forgeries. This indicates that the number of Nejd counterstamp variants is very high.