Panama (1556-98)-Pa Xo real
This specimen was lot 544 in Sedwick Treasure Auction 26 (Winter Park, FL, November 2019), where it sold for $20,230. The catalog description[1] noted, "Panama, cob 1 real, Philip II, assayer oX below denomination I to right, mintmark AP to left, king's name missing in legend, unique. Lightly toned AU with 100% full and sharp inner details plus nearly full crown and legends, the AP mintmark and oX assayer particularly bold and with full (distinctive) tressure around cross, with no doubling or corrosion, also a completely new die (missing in Proctor) with obverse legend reading . D [retrograde] . G . ISPANIARVM . R (totally lacking the king's name), in any case the finest example we have seen of any Panama cob 1R." Cayón attributes the PA mintmark to Upper Peru (Potosi) but most authors attribute it to Panama City, which operated briefly in the reign of Philip II. An insalubrious climate and pirate attacks discouraged the development of a mint. Four, two, one and half reales were struck but all are rare.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 3.38 g, 0.931 fine silver, this specimen 3.35 g.
Catalog reference: S-AP1; KM-0002; CT-646, Cayón-3453.
- Krause, Chester L., and Colin R. Bruce II, Standard Catalog of World Coins: Spain, Portugal and the New World, Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2002.
- 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.
- Menzel, Sewall, Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins, New York: The American Numismatic Society, 2004.
- [1]Sedwick, Daniel Frank, Augi Garcia and Cori Sedwick Downing, Treasure Auction 26, Winter Park, FL: Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC, 2019.
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