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Potosi, Bolivia, cob 8 reales Royal (galano), 1641FR, with Guatemala sun-over-mountains countermark

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Cobs - Potosi Silver Start Price:4,000.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,500.00 USD
Potosi, Bolivia, cob 8 reales Royal (galano), 1641FR, with Guatemala sun-over-mountains countermark
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This item SOLD at 2020 Nov 17 @ 23:33UTC-5 : EST/CDT
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Potosi, Bolivia, cob 8 reales Royal (galano), 1641FR, with Guatemala sun-over-mountains countermark (Type II, 1839) on cross, very rare, NGC XF details / holed, c/s XF standard, ex-Stuart. S-P28; KM-unl (R19a for type); Cal-unl (cf 1384). 25.95 grams. An impressively huge-flan example, extending past the outer borders, with 100% full legends as a result (the characteristic retrograde D of D.G quite evident), attractively richly toned all over, holed at the bottom of the cross / left of the shield, with some minor doubling only on the shield side, which is a die-match with Lazaro #102 (rarity R4), but curiously the cross side is different and evidently unique, with corrected date (as the others show the 6 as a 0) and with two back-to-back fleurs punched vertically over the same horizontally following the date in the legend. Also of note is the fact that this piece and the others with the same obverse exhibit a Portuguese escutcheon in place of Flanders-Tirol in the shield (also known on a few non-Royal issues); in recent studies on Potosi galanos (soon to be published), Bolivian researcher Daniel Oropeza Alba has discovered a link with the Portuguese neighborhood within Potosi known as the "Lusitanos" that suffered persecution and dispossession of property as a result of the Portuguese revolution of 1640, which ended Spanish control and restored the Portuguese throne under the Duke of Braganza (Joao IV). Last but not least, this is the only known example with a Guatemala countermark, here represented by two clear, offset punches near the center of the cross. Pedigreed to the Richard Stuart collection. NGC #5902400-002.