Mexico 1699-Mo L 8 reales
This specimen was lot 2055 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2022), where it sold for $204,000. The catalog description[1] noted,
"Magnificent Royal of Charles II, MEXICO. "Royal" Presentation Cob 8 Reales, 1699/8-Mo L. Mexico City Mint, Assayer Manuel de Leon (L). Charles II. NGC AU-58. The only certified example of the date on either the NGC or PCGS population reports. Bold and beautiful, this impressive representative features an outstanding strike with a minor shift in the legends. Rich and attractive gray patina evenly covers the surfaces and all the design elements are fully struck up. This awesome example is beautifully preserved and is about as nice as one could hope to find in a silver issue. Truly a remarkable piece from a ruler whose coinage is notoriously crude and bar far the worst production quality of colonial Mexico. From the Pat Johnson Collection. Ex: FCC Boyd Collection. Ex: Guttag Brothers Collection."
This specimen is a silver cob eight reales struck at Mexico City 1666-1700. In 1728, cobs were debased from .931 to 0.917 fine silver. Round "royals" are known but all are rare, rarer than the equivalent Bolivian royals.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 27.07 g, 0.931 fine silver, .810 troy oz ASW, this specimen 27.64 g.
Catalog reference: Cayón-7701, KM-R46; cf. Lazaro-54/55; Cal-625; Guttag-2597 (plate coin); Lopez-Chavez/Yriarte-555 (plate coin).
- 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.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Menzel, Sewall, Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins, New York: The American Numismatic Society, 2004.
- Elizondo, Carlos A., Eight Reales and Pesos of the New World, San Antonio, TX: 1968.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The 2022 NYINC Sale: World and Ancient Coins, featuring the Mark and Lottie Salton Collection and the Pat Johnson Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2021.
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