Mexico 1785-Mo FM 2 escudos
This specimen was lot 31197 in Heritage sale 3041 (Chicago, August 2015), where it sold for $5,875. The catalog description[1] noted, "Charles III gold 2 Escudos 1785 Mo-FM AU58 NGC, Mexico City mint. Borderline Mint State with highly lustrous fields, only light high-point friction and a few scattered non-distracting contact marks, as expected for the designation. Rare in this engaging quality, currently the single highest certified example of this subtype by NGC, and thus highly desirable as a type coin. From The Rudman Collection of Mexican Coins." All Mexican colonial gold may be considered scarce. This type, the third showing the bust of Charles III, was struck 1773-88 and is the first type that can be considered reasonably available. This type comes in two varieties; "inverted mintmark" (shown here) and "upright mintmark". The inverted mintmark variety prevailed 1773-1788; the upright mintmark appeared 1772-73 and 1788 only. This marks the first date of the fineness being lowered from .910 to .875 gold.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 6.77 g, 0.875 fine gold, .190 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: Cayón-12536, KM 130.2a, Cal-489.
- 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 Juan Carlos I, 1474 a 2001, Barcelona: Aureo & Calicó, 2008.
- [1]Bierrenbach, Cristiano, Warren Tucker and David Michaels, Heritage World & Ancient Coins Auction 3041, featuring the Eric Beckman Collection of Canadian Coins, the Kaiser Collection of German Gold Coins and the Rudman Collection of Mexican Coins, Part I, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2015.
- 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.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
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- return to Mexican colonial coinage, 1536-1822