Achori Pe

@panzerman , I am Victor. Nice Lima portrait 8 Escudos. Choice example for that type, great strike and lustrous. Here is my Peru Imaginary bust 1 escudo. This portrait of Ferdinand VII was used in Peru from 1808-1811. 
 

@The Eidolon nice Guatemala 8 even with the hole as usual. I wanted to start collecting Guatemala pillar cobs and pillars, but too much for me at the moment. Peru and Bolivia gold and silver will keep me busy. 

Very nice Lima cobs @robinjojo, that overdate is unusual. Lima over dates in cobs are very scarce, I do have the 2 Reales 1743/2. I am attaching a picture of it. Your 1750 Lima 8 escudos is very nice, I think for Lima there were more 4 escudos than any other denomination. I do have the 1750 1 escudo, I don’t think it’s from La Luz since there is no record for it.
 

Moreover, on your Potosi pieces, they are very nice and hard to find in that condition. I like that era where cobs and pillars were struck and circulated at the same time. In my opinion minor denomination for Charles iii cobs are very scarce and rare to find in nice condition. According to pillars, it’s hard to find a nice example of Potosi. Yours is very nice and the cabinet toning is superb. Here are some of my piece from that era. 

-my first coin is my 1743/2 2 Reales, it’s very clear overdate. 

-the second coins is my 1750 Lima 1 Escudo, it was from a Very important Spanish gold collection sold privately in the 80s, then it was sold by Goldberg in 2007. It found a way to me this year. 

-third piece is 1769 Potosi 1 Real. It’s very rare date in my opinion, specially in that grade. 

-forth piece is 1768 Potosi 1/2 real, although not monogram visible, the date is very well struck. Charles iii 1/2 Reales are very hard to find with full monogram and date, also with partial monogram or date. 

-then it’s my 1767 Potosi Pillar 1 real, choice for the type and denomination. I’m collecting that serie as well, very few piece (1767-1770), but a challenge to find in nice condition. 

I will add other photos of my half Reales Charles Iii Potosi later. They have the monogram and date, but early 1760s. 

On 10/28/2022 at 3:35 PM, robinjojo said:

Years ago I was actively collecting Spanish colonial coins of various stripes: milled, hammered, even cast.  I was also very actively collecting early Latin America republican coinage.

Going through the boxes, and pulling out coins that I forgot I owned, having sold many in the past in a very haphazard way, I came across this nice example of early hammer silver "cob" coinage from Lima.  Generally speaking, when one looks at the vast period that Spanish colonial coinage was struck at the main mints of Cartagena, Bogota, Potosi, Lima and Mexico, one cannot help but notice how the quality of the coinage declined over time, from relatively round, carefully struck coins, to coins that look little better than irregular pieces of silver, sometimes with little indication of their origins.  It seems that the quality of the coinage declined almost in proportion to Spain's declining fortunes through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 

Coupled with a sandal at the Potosi mint with the deliberate  debasing of silver coinage from the 1630s- early 1650s, Spanish colonial went through basically a crisis of confidence that was remedied with a trial and execution of an assayer from Potosi, and the officially countermarked devaluation of the old shield coinage from that mint.  Subsequently there was a complete redesign, introduced in 1652, of the the silver coinage intended to instill renewed confidence in the Spanish silver onza.  The strategy seemed to work, as the new "pillars and wave" coinage traveled widely, especially in Asia, and received a wide acceptance by traders, merchants and local authorities. 

Well, as usual I've wandered far afield from the subject of this thread, so here is the Lima 8 reales cob:

Lima, El Peru, 8 reales, Philip II, undated  (1577-1587),  assayer Diego de la Torre.  P-8 (flat-top) to left, *-oD to right.

S-L4; KM-14; Cal-655

27.38 grams 

Note:  The "P" on the obverse is for El Peru.  The star represents the Lima mint. Lima, because of its date of establishment, on January 6th, the day of the Biblical Epiphany, or Twelfth Day, connects the city with the star of the Magi and initially called Ciudad de los Reyes or City of the Kings.  The name was abandoned, and Lima became the city's first choice.
 

 

While I'm at it, here is an example of the devalued coinage from Potosi:

Potosi, 7 1/2  reales ,Philip IV,  1651 E, crown alone countermark revaluation (rare).

KM C19.15

26.4 grams

 

Got any cobs or Spanish colonial coins?  Please post them or anything else you wish.

Thanks

 

Nice Pieces Robin, I do collect mainly Peru colonial and republic. I started collecting bust type and republic, had opportunity to buy nice cobs, but passed on them. However, a year and a half ago, I started to collect them. I do like minors coinage specially, but here are some Diego 8s. They are different varieties.