Chile 1809-So FJ 2 reales
This specimen was lot 1323 in Sedwick Treasure Auction 21 (Winter Park, FL, May 2017), where it sold for $287.88. The catalog description[1] noted, "Santiago, Chile, bust 2 reales, Ferdinand VII (bust of Charles IV), 1809FJ. XF with high luster from cleaning, toning around details, parts of rims crude (as made)." The abdication of Charles IV and the imprisonment of Ferdinand VII by Napoleon left mint officials in Spanish America scrambling for solutions. Like their colleagues in Mexico City and Lima, mint officials in Santiago used an imaginary bust of Ferdinand on their issues of 1808-11. The assayer FJ appears for 1803-17. In 1810, the bust of the abdicated Charles IV was dropped and an imaginary bust of Ferdinand in an admiral's uniform was substituted (KM 74).
Recorded mintage: 41,000 for 1808-09, nearly all 1809.
Specification: 6.77 grams, 0.896 fine silver, .194 troy oz ASW, this specimen 6.78 grams.
Catalog reference: Cayón-15395, CT-1015; KM-74.
- 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.
- Harris, Robert P., Pillars & Portraits, San José, CA: Bonanza Press, 1968.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Sedwick, Daniel F., Augi Garcia and Cori Sedwick Downing, Treasure Auction #21, featuring Selections from the Richard Stuart Collection, Winter Park, FL: Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC, 2017.
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