Angola 1770 8 macutas
This specimen was lot 71505 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, May 2023), where it sold for $456. The catalog description[1] noted, "ANGOLA. 8 Macutas, 1770. Jose I. NGC EF-45. Both well-produced and lightly handled, this silver piece offers seldom-seen freshness. Subtle glints of brilliance permeate the mottled charcoal tones, giving the coin depth and individuality. As the highest graded example at either major service, collectors are unlikely to encounter a more attractive example of the date." This type was struck for Angola in 1762-63 and 1770 in Lisbon. The Portuguese landed in 1491 and immediately made the region a major slaving station, which trade would not end until the 1850's when the British Royal Navy interdicted the trade. The later nineteenth century was devoted to resource extraction and fending off attempts by the other colonizing powers to seize territory. Silver issues in the eighteenth century included two, four, six, eight, ten and twelve macutas, most of them scarce.
Recorded mintage: 5,000.
Specification: 11.70 g, 0.917 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM-16; Gomes-12.03.
- Alberto Gomes and Francisco Antonio Magro, Moedas Portuguesas e do Território Que Hoje é Portugal: Catálogo das Moedas Cunhadas para o Continentes e Ilhas Adjacentes, para os Territórios do Ultramar e Grão-Mestres Portugueses da Ordem de Malta, 6ª Edição, Lisbon: Associação Numismática de Portugal, 2013.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, May 2023 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, Featuring the Richard Elliott Collection of Hooknecks, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
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