Bolivia 1639-P TR 4 reales
This specimen was lot 71087 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, November 2022), where it sold for $288. The catalog description[1] noted,
"BOLIVIA. Cob 4 Reales, 1639-P. Potosi Mint; Assayer Pedro Trevino (TR). Philip IV. PCGS Genuine--Environmental Damage, EF Details. Rough and somewhat corroded, this Cob nonetheless retains enough detail to attribute it to the SCARCE assayer 'TR'. His monogram appears on the obverse below the mintmark, and the reverse shows truncated digits "16" followed by faint remnants of the digits '39', just enough to assert a dating of 1639. The coin's central shield and castles and lions are finely struck and presentable, and the deeply toned surfaces show some pleasing luster. A satisfying example for this uncommon assayer.
Pedro Trevino's brief tenure as assayer at the Potosí mint is shrouded in mystery. Serving for only about four years, Trevino marked his issues with a distinctive monogram combining the first two letters of his surname. He appears to have been replaced in 1640 by Felipe Ramirez de Arellano, who used his own monogram which was quite similar to Trevino's. Both Trevino and Ramirez were later implicated in the Potosi Mint Fraud, and coins issued with their monograms were ordered to be counterstamped and devalued. From the Pat Johnson Collection. Privately purchased from Freeman Craig."
The mountains around Potosi contained enormous amounts of high grade silver ore, a situation the Spanish were not slow to exploit. A mint was set up in the 1570's to process the silver mined there. The early products of the reign of Philip II are fairly good quality but rot set in during the following reign, including fraudulent debasement. This type was struck 1622-47, throughout the first part of the reign of Philip IV. Dates were added in 1617; even so, many are so crudely made that the dates are not legible. This type is rare; it was never made in large quantities and nearly all melted down in the great remintage of 1649-52 when the debased cobs were called in. Assayer TR operated 1636-45 but did not issue four reales every year.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 13.54 g, 0.931 fine silver, this specimen 13.16 g and most likely debased.
Catalog reference: Cayón-6066, cf. KM-17A; Cal-Type-279.
- 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, 2 volumes, 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.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The November 2022 Collectors Choice Ancient & World Coins Auction, Featuring the Pat Johnson Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
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