Bolivia 1649-P O 8 reales
This specimen was lot 949 in Sedwick Treasure Auction 35 (Winter Park, FL, May 2024), where it sold for $1,560. The catalog description[1] noted, "BOLIVIA, Potosí, cob 8 reales, 1649 O, with crown-alone countermark on shield, ex-Capitana, ex-Ponte, Mastalir Plate. 27.25 grams. Choice, corrosion-free VF with excellent full shield showing full and bold •P•O• to left and •8• to right, bold and nearly full countermark in center, clear PHELIPVS in legend, the cross weaker but also full with bold 649 date in legend followed by INDIARVM (which looks like an error omitting the word ET but is probably due to apparent doubling there), minor edge-split, contrastingly toned. From the Capitana (1654), pedigreed to the Ponterio "Capitana" auction of April 1999 (lot 77) and the Luis R. Ponte Collection, Plate Coin on page 58 of Mastalir's The Great Transition at the Potosí Mint 1649-1652: The 1649-1652 Crowned Shield Coinage and the Countermarks of 1652, Part A: The 1649-1652 Crowned Shield Coinage (2021) and on page 257 of Part B: The Countermarks of 1652." This type was struck in large quantities 1621-52. As early as the 1630's there had been rumors that the mint was debasing their product but the government did not act until 1648, when a new assayer was sent to Potosi with orders to clean house. Eventually, to separate the new, reformed cobs from the old, suspect product, the coin was redesigned in 1652. Assayers "T" and "Z" are also noted for the year.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 27.07 g, 0.931 fine silver, this specimen 25.34 grams.
Catalog reference: Cayón-6399; S-P35; KM-19b; Cal-1487.
- 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.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- 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, Cori Sedwick Downing and Connor Falk, Treasure Auction 35, World, U.S Coins and Paper Money, Winter Park, FL: Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC, 2024.
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