Peru 1717-L M 2 escudos
This specimen was lot 43 in Sedwick Auction 37 (Winter Park, FL, May 2025), where it sold for $10,800. The catalog description[1] noted, "PERU, Lima, gold cob 2 escudos, 1717 M, very rare, NGC UNC details / saltwater damage, ex-Loosdrecht (1719), ex-Almenara. Very bold strike with satin fields, choice full pillars-and-waves and cross-lions-castles (the latter very slightly doubled), clear king's ordinal V and second date 7 (the only digit) in legend, with minor surface graininess as expected for this shipwreck (not mentioned on label). From the Loosdrecht (1719), with certificate, pedigreed to the Almenara Collection." Not until 1684 was the Lima mint opened on a permanent basis. The mintage of gold commenced in 1696. This type is recorded for 1701-44. Recorded mintages are much lower than of the eight escudos (KM-38.2). Assayer Melgarejo stamped his coins 1709-27. Specimens with legible dates are scarce. The Mexico City mint was converted to milled coinage in 1732-34 but Lima would not follow suit until 1751. The SCWC records no two escudos for 1717, 1718 or 1719.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 6.77 g, 0.917 fine gold, this specimen 6.54 grams.
Catalog reference: Cayón-unlisted, S-L28; Cal-unl (Type 222); Fr-9; KM-36 (unlisted date).
- 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.
- 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.
- Menzel, Sewall, Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins, New York: The American Numismatic Society, 2004.
- [1]Sedwick, Daniel Frank, Augi Garcia, Cori Sedwick Downing, Connor Falk and Sarah Sproles, Treasure Auction 37, World, U.S Coins and Paper Money, featuring the Almenara Collection of Colonial Peruvian Gold Coins, Winter Park, FL: Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC, 2025.
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