Bolivia 1773-P V 4 reales
This specimen was lot 74021 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice Online Auction (Costa Mesa, CA, October 2024), where it sold for $240. The catalog description[1] noted, "BOLIVIA. Cob 4 Reales, 1773-P VY. Potosi Mint. Charles III. PCGS VF-30. This charming little cob minor displays rich mottled gray patina. The obverse exhibits a three digit date, though the last digit is partial off the flan, with one clear assayers letter and a clear denomination. Ex: Pat Johnson Collection." This type was struck for Charles III 1760-73 and this was the final date of cob production at any colonial mint. Portrait coinage was introduced to Upper Peru in 1773 along with a debasement to 0.903 fine. Cobs, however, continued to circulate for decades thereafter, as numerous counterstamps attest.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 13.54 g, 0.917 fine silver, this specimen 13.38 g.
Catalog reference: KM-44; Cal-920; Cayón-11763.
- 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 Juan Carlos I, 1474 a 2001, Barcelona: Aureo & Calicó, 2008.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- Menzel, Sewall, Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins, New York: The American Numismatic Society, 2004.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, October 2024 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, featuring the S.P. Rutherford Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2024.
Link to: