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Mexico City, Mexico, cob 8 escudos, 1714J, Royal dies extremely rare from the 1715 fleet

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Cobs - Gold Start Price:15,000.00 USD Estimated At:15,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
Mexico City, Mexico, cob 8 escudos, 1714J, Royal dies extremely rare from the 1715 fleet
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This item SOLD at 2012 Apr 10 @ 14:15UTC-4 : AST/EDT
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Mexico City, Mexico, cob 8 escudos, 1714J, Royal dies (special ornamentation), extremely rare, from the 1715 Fleet, plate coin in The Practical Book of Cobs. S-M30; KM-57.2 (for type); CT-unlisted. 27.1 grams. For reasons that are still uncertain to us, in 1714 the Mexican mint experimented with the designs of the 8 escudos, creating some rare, one-year varieties (like the so-called "GRAT" coins with date on reverse) that sell for much more than the normal type. Even more interesting, however, is the theory that the mint was experimenting with screw-press machinery, as evidenced by the quality of the 8-escudos Royals dated 1714. These Royals, beautifully broad and fully round coins, were struck from special dies with refined elements and special ornamentation on both sides (quatrefoils above and below the oMJ and VIII and after the words in the legends, and dagger-shaped ornaments in the dimples of the tressure around the cross). Curiously, two "test strike" specimens are known, call them pseudo-Royals (see Tauler #397a), that are nearly round and rather flat, as if the striking pressure of the screw press was insufficient to spread the flan out to full size and impress the details deeply, as we see on the Royals. (A similar "pseudo-Royal" is known for the "GRAT" variety.) But then there is our coin, clearly struck from the same Royal dies but also evidently struck by hand (not machine) on a typical "cob" planchet, with truncated legends due to flan thickness and a trace of doubling on the shield side. There is no denying this is a nice cob--fully Mint State, with choice full shield and crown and cross and date, all very evenly struck--but it is not a full-fledged Royal by anyone's definition. It seems unlikely that something so delicate as Royal dies would be used on rough cob planchets, so perhaps this piece is not so much an early test strike as an error or afterthought. In any case, it is a unique hybrid of high importance. So what is it worth? For comparison, one of the pseudo-Royals reportedly sold in 2010 for $55,000, and the most recently-sold of the approximately nine known Royals sold in 2009 for about $300,000. From the 1715 Fleet, and plate coin in the 2nd (page 80) and 3rd (page 105) editions of The Practical Book of Cobs.

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