Bolivia 1661-P E 8 reales
This specimen was lot 1533 in Jean Elsen sale 141 (Brussels, June 2019), where it sold for €220 (about US$292 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted,
"BOLIVIE, Philippe IV (1621-1665), AR 8 reales, 1661E, Potosi. D/ Les colonnes d'Hercule. R/ Armes écartelées de Castille et Leon dans un quadrilobe. Beau à Très Beau. (Bolivia, Philip IV, 1621-65, silver eight reales of 1661, Potosí mint. Obverse: pillars of Hercules; reverse: quartered arms of Castile and Leon in a quadrilobe. Fine - Very Fine.)"
Royals are known of this type from the Potosí mint but all are rare. The regular cob issues are not nearly as nice. The years 1649-52 were a period of reform at the Potosí mint; it was found that the previous mintmasters in office 1625-48 had been debasing the cobs, a crime for which one official paid with his life.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 27.07 g, 0.931 fine silver, .810 troy oz ASW, this specimen 26,10 g.
Catalog reference: Cayón-6551, KM 21, C.C.T. 442.
- 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.
- Elizondo, Carlos A., Eight Reales and Pesos of the New World, San Antonio, TX: 1968.
- [1]Elsen, Philippe, et al., Vente Publique 141, Brussels: Jean Elsen et ses Fils, S.A., 2019.
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