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822

CHILE, Santiago, ¼ real, 1817, dots flanking date, NGC MS 64 (Colección Val y Mexía Label).

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins By Country Start Price:240.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 450.00 USD
CHILE, Santiago, ¼ real, 1817, dots flanking date, NGC MS 64 (Colección Val y Mexía Label).
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CHILE, Santiago, ¼ real, 1817, dots flanking date, NGC MS 64 (Colección Val y Mexía Label). Cal-310; KM-73. Choice bold strike and satin smooth surfaces, fairly strong luster, rims a bit weak (as made), one of several varieties for the date (not noted on label or in the cited references). Pedigreed to the Val y Mexia Collection.
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NOTE: We present here a small group of the earliest cuartillos (¼ reales) of the newly established República de Chile. The fight for independence from Spain lasted from about 1812 until February 1817, during which the capital of Santiago changed hands several times. While its mint changed hands as well, all cuartillos up to 1816 are still considered colonial. The question is the year 1817, for which cuartillos are known with or without dots flanking the date, some high and some low. Beginning in 1792, Santiago cuartillos generally show dots, the exception being 1810 and 1811, after which all years from 1812 to 1816 have dots. In the year 1817, however, approximately 35% of the known cuartillos do NOT have dots at all. The likely explanation is that the chaos created by the revolutionary war also caused confusion and disorder at the mint. Santiago was liberated once and for all after the Battle of Chacabuco on February 12, 1817. All Spaniards holding government positions were fired, which likely also affected officials and workers at the mint (also see lot 819 for a “confused” 1 escudo 1817/6 in which the assayer letters were transposed). We may never know for sure what distinguishes a colonial 1817 cuartillo from a republican 1817 cuartillo, but the consignor of the following lots believes the cuartillos without dots are most likely the earliest emissions by the Republic. After 1817 we see cuartillas dated 1818/6 and 1818 (clean), which is the last year of the old colonial design but definitively minted by the new republican government. Some years later the cuartillas began again with a new design showing UN CUARTILLO for the years 1832/1, 1832, 1833, and 1834.
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