Guatemala 1822-G 1/4 real
This specimen was lot 51114 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2024), where it sold for $7,800. The catalog description[1] noted,
"GUATEMALA. 1/4 Real, 1822-G. Nueva Guatemala Mint. Ferdinand VII. NGC Fine Details--Holed. Here is one of the RAREST and most debated issues in the Guatemalan series. In contrast to the innumerable 1821-dated Cuartillos, there is only a small handful of 1822-dated examples extant. Despite a hole and three small bores over the lower fraction of the denomination, the crucial mintmark and date both remain exceedingly clear and unmistakable. The coin otherwise displays an even overall wear pattern and pleasing mauve-gray tone. Truly an extraordinary opportunity for specialists, as no other example appears on any auction record.
Struck in the Spanish imperial types but bearing a date from the post-colonial period, this Cuartillo is a numismatic puzzle. Numerous theories abound attempting to explain its existence. One possibility is simple inertia; mint workers were accustomed to simply adjusting the date punches each year and carrying on with the same dies until they wore out. With the collapse of Spanish rule and the advent of a new nation in September 1821, perhaps mint workers were not given a new directive in time and opted to merely move up the date to avoid a gap in production. Alternatively, Kurt Prober suggests that Guatemalan independence was not a unanimous decision and various localities and individuals remained loyal to the Spanish crown. Another hypothesis is that these coins are contemporary counterfeits or unofficial issues. Whatever the case may be, Guatemala opted to join Agustin Iturbide's doomed Mexican Empire in December 1822, and so this date stands as Guatemala's final colonial issue. See Kurt Prober's Historia Numismatica de Guatemala, Plate V, # 17-D, for another example struck with the same dies. 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 (the auctioneers admit this coin might be a fantasy but someone bet $7,800 that it is genuine). 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-15035, EMO-379 (Plate coin); KM-72; Cal-259.
- 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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