Bolivia 1756-P q real
The Spanish colony of Upper Peru produced hammered cob coinage at the Potosí mint from 1573 to 1773, with a major debasement scandal and subsequent reform occurring in 1649-1652. The period 1767-1770 saw simultaneous issue of milled columnarios. The royal or presentation issues are very rare and highly sought after, while the regular strikes vary in price according to the visibility of the date, mint, and assayer initials. This specimen was lot 35265 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Chicago, August 2022), where it sold for $288. The catalog description[1] noted, "BOLIVIA. Cob Real, 1756-q. Potosi Mint. Philip III. PCGS EF-45." The Potosí mint was the most prolific issuer of silver during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, nearly all of it cobs such as this. This type was struck 1748-60 and superseded an earlier type (KM 28a) which names Philip V instead of Ferdinand VI. The other Latin American mints placed the date near the edge where it rarely struck up, whereas Potosi issues have the date smack in the middle, ensuring that the date would be legible even if the rest of the design was smeared. As a result, Bolivian cobs can be collected by date, unlike the other mints (Mexico, Lima, Guatemala). The Potosí mint was the last to abandon the manufacture of cobs, in 1773.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.38 g, 0.931 fine silver.
Catalog reference: Cayón-10332, KM-37; Cal-227.
- 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.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The 2022 ANA Auction - Ancients & World Coins - Featuring The Salton Collection Part III, the Augustana Collection and the Robert C. Knepper Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
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