Chile 1815-So FJ 1/2 real
This specimen was lot 21059 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2023), where it sold for $1,320. The catalog description[1] noted, "CHILE. 1/2 Real, 1815-So FJ. Santiago Mint. Ferdinand VII. NGC MS-63. Though bearing the name of the current Spanish monarch, Ferdinand VII, this Choice minor actually bears the effigy of his predecessor, Charles IV. Quite crisp and appealing, it offers a light gray tone and some deeper hues sprinkled enchantingly throughout." This specimen is one of a series struck 1808-17 in Santiago, Chile, during the reign of Ferdinand VII. The opening of an enlarged Casa de Moneda in 1805 allowed the increase in mintages and this type is not rare. The bust of Charles IV was used throughout the series even tho the bust of Ferdinand VII appears on the two reales, eight reales and eight escudos. The Spanish were expelled in 1817 but the first republican real did not appear until 1834. Some colonial types were restruck by the republicans during the early 1820's; it is not known if this denomination was included.
Recorded mintage: 99,000.
Specification: 1.69 g, 0.896 fine silver.
Catalog reference: KM-64; Cal-459, Cayón-15129.
- 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]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The January 2023 NYINC Auction: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Taraszka Collection and the Mark and Dottie Salton Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
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