Guatemala 1816-G 1/4 real
This specimen was lot 51109 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2024), where it sold for $1,080. The catalog description[1] noted, "GUATEMALA. 1/4 Real, 1816-G. Nueva Guatemala Mint. Ferdinand VII. NGC AU-50. A somewhat more challenging date, this Guatemalan fraction offers pleasingly crisp detail and an eye-catching mottled tone. From the EMO Collection." This tiny coin shares the design with similar issues from Mexico City and other Spanish colonial mints. The type was struck 1796-1821. Most of the dates are very scarce, but the 1821G appears in Uncirculated with some frequency, most likely the result of a hoard being dispersed. The denomination seems to have been popular in Guatemala, as silver cuartillas were struck under the Central American Republic 1824-51 and by the Republic of Guatemala 1859-99, being the last country to abandon the denomination.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 0.84 g, 0.896 fine silver.
Catalog reference: Cayón-15013, EMO-373 (Plate coin); KM-72; Cal-253.
- 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.
- 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.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, January 2024 NYINC Auction, featuring the Emilio M Ortiz Collection and a Symphony of Russian Rarities, the Rothschild-Piatigorsky Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
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