Bolivia 1620-P T 8 reales
This specimen was lot 128 in Sedwick Treasure Auction 26 (Winter Park, FL, November 2019), where it sold for $1,190. The catalog description[1] noted, "Potosí, Bolivia, cob 8 reales, 1620T, retrograde mintmark, Grade 1. Thick and uncorroded flan but with flat centers, bold mintmark "q" (retrograde P) above + and T, also full denomination O-VIII and full date. Pedigreed to the Classics collection, with Fisher tag and photo-certificate #96A-270299. Recovered from Atocha, sunk in 1622 west of Key West, Florida." This type, the archetypal "piece of eight" of pirate lore, was struck 1605-21, throughout the reign of Philip III. Dates were not added until 1617; even so, many struck after that time are so crudely made that the dates are not legible. It is the most common Latin AMerica silver coin of the seventeenth century and the only one that can be collected by date.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 27.07 g, 0.931 fine silver, this specimen 27.03 g.
Catalog reference: S-P21; KM-10; CT-136, Cayón-4936.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Cayón, Adolfo, Clemente Cayón and Juan Cayón, Las Monedas Españolas, del Tremis al Euro: del 411 a Nuestros Dias, vol. 1, Madrid: Cayón-Jano S.L., 2005.
- Calicó, Xavier, Numismática Española: Catálogo General con Precios de Todas las Monedas Españolas Acuñadas desde Los Reyes Católicos Hasta Felipe VI, 1474 a 2020, Barcelona: Aureo & Calicó, 2019.
- Menzel, Sewall, Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins, New York: The American Numismatic Society, 2004.
- Paoletti, Emilio, 8 Reales Cobs of Potosí, 2nd Ed., Buenos Aires, 2006.
- [1]Sedwick, Daniel Frank, Augi Garcia and Cori Sedwick Downing, Treasure Auction 26, Winter Park, FL: Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC, 2019.
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