Chile 1840-So IJ real
This specimen was lot 1507 in Stephen Album sale 43 (Santa Rosa, CA, May 2022), where it sold for $960. The catalog description[1] noted, "CHILE: Republic, AR real, 1840-So, initials IJ, better date of the two-year type, mintage of only 6,800 pieces, Fine, Scarce." The specimen shown is one of a type minted in Santiago, Chile, 1838 and 1840. The design, with a condor tearing the chains of slavery, is also found on half, two and eight reales coins of the period. This design is very popular with collectors and brings quite a bit more than the rather low catalog values. Chile converted to decimal coinage in the 1850's. This example realized ten times the catalog value.
Recorded mintage: 6,800.
Specification: 3.35 g, 0.903 fine silver, 21.5 mm diameter, 0.097 troy oz ASW.
Catalog reference: KM-94.1.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 43, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2022.
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