Guatemala 1778-NG P 8 escudos
This specimen was lot 3023 in the Eliasberg sale, where it sold for $2,300. The catalog description[1] noted,
"1778 P 8 escudos. Nueva Guatemala mint. EF details (NCS). Armored bust of Carlos III to right, legends around, date below/crowned arms, garter around, legends around garter. Holed and very skillfully plugged at date, between the center two digits. Bright yellow gold, cleaned and somewhat hairlined. A sharp example of a date that Calico rates as extremely rare. The 1778 8 escudos of Nueva Guatemala has a special historical significance as the first struck at the NG mint, constructed in Nueva Guatemala after Guatemala City was destroyed by an earthquake in 1773. From the John H. Clapp Collection; Clapp estate to Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr., 1942."
All Guatemalan gold coins are rare. This type is less rare than its predecessors (being struck 1778, 1781, 1783 and 1785) but it is still priced at ten times a similar eight escudos from Colombia.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 27.07 g, 0.901 fine gold, .784 troy oz AGW. This specimen: 26.95 grams, 37.00 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: Cayón-12893, KM 40, Fr-10, Calico Onza-668.
- [1]Kraljevich, John, John Pack, Elizabeth O. Piper and Frank Van Valen, The Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr., Collection of World Gold Coins and Medals, Wolfboro, NH: American Numismatic Rarities, 2005.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- 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.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- Robinson, Charles, The Coins of Central America, 1733-1965, San Benito, TX: 1965.
- Stickney, Brian, A Monetary History of Central America, New York: American Numismatic Society, 2017.
Link to:
- 1768 8 escudos
- 1778 4 reales
- 1778 8 reales
- 1778 4 escudos
- Chile 1778-So DA 8 escudos
- Colombia 1778-NR JJ 8 escudos
- Colombia 1778-P SF 8 escudos
- Spain 1778-M PJ 8 escudos
- Peru 1778-L MJ 8 escudos
- Mexico 1778-Mo FF 8 escudos
- 1781 8 escudos
- Coins and currency dated 1778
- other specimens in The Eliasberg Collection.
- return to coins of Guatemala