Peru 1725-L M 2 escudos
This specimen was lot 44 in Sedwick Auction 37 (Winter Park, FL, May 2025), where it sold for $17,400. The catalog description[1] noted, "PERU, Lima, gold cob 2 escudos, 1725 M, (Louis I), unique, NGC MS 60, finest and only example in NGC census, ex-Caballero, ex-Almenara, Calicó Plate, Bustos Plate, Tauler Plate. Choice full cross-lions-castles, full pillars with bold full date, all well centered but no legend visible on either side, some high-point rub but very clean fields. While the king's name and ordinal are not visible on this coin, for Lima this date is known to be Louis I only (posthumous one-year type), and this 2 escudos is the only known example according to two recent reference works (Tauler and Bustos) and according to the Caballero listing, dispelling rumors of a second example in Ulex (Hess auction of May 1908, lot 3106) where a 1 escudo example is listed confusingly as a "2 Pesos" (following the usual convention of two 8 reales or pesos equaling a 1 escudo). Pedigreed to the Caballero de las Yndias Collection (Aureo & Calicó auction of April 2009, lot 579) and to the Almenara Collection, Plate Coin 52 in Calicó's Numismática española (2019), and Plate Coin on page 51 of Alejandro Bustos' Amonedación de Luis Fernando I (2024) (stated on label), also Plate Coin on page 300 of Tauler's Oro Macuquino (2011)." The SCWC lists only an eight escudos for Luis I and no two escudos for Philip V between 1723 and 1728.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 6.77 g, 0.917 fine gold, this specimen 6.68 grams.
Catalog reference: Cayón-unlisted, S-L28a; Bustos-L2E.25; Cal-52, Fr-unl; KM-unlisted.
- 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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