Spain 1607-Seg C 4 escudos
This specimen was lot 30378 in Heritage sale 3097 (New York, January 2022), where it sold for $78,000. The catalog description[1] noted,
"Needle-Sharp and Near-Gem Segovia 4 Escudos, Spain: Philip III gold 4 Escudos 1607 (Aqueduct)-C MS64 PCGS, Segovia mint. A breathtaking example of this very scarce type, milled at the contemporary state-of-the-art minting facility in Segovia. To say that such an offering is rare is perhaps an understatement. Accounting for duplicates, only a handful of examples of this elusive issue have appeared at auction in recent decades. A survey of NGC's census reveals not a single 1607-dated example certified to date; meanwhile, at PCGS, this specimen remains the sole certified example, not just for this particular date, but for the type as a whole, which was produced in 1607-08 and again in 1611. In our history, we have only ever encountered a single representative of a Segovia 1607 4 Escudos, which, though appealing and rare, showed a noticeably greater degree of handling and evidence of circulation, being described as VF-XF at the time (Heritage Auction #3000, May 2008, Lot 52950). Owing to its identical method of production through milling with apparently rusted dies, this offering exhibits the same micro-granularity to its surfaces, which, however similar in some ways to the prior example, are here seen with only the most trivial instances of barely detectable handling. Satiny luster glows across the features-- flawlessly executed and needle-sharp-- while the eye appeal is further elevated by a well-centered strike for the type. All said, a tremendous offering, and one which would be exceedingly difficult to improve upon, assuming it is even possible to do so."
Beginning in the 16th century, the Segovia mint embarked on an industrial modernization of their traditional hammer-struck method of coining, importing novel minting technology from Hall in Austria in the form of rolling machines. The result is readily apparent in the superior quality of Segovian issues--their roundness and uniformity of strike stand out in stark contrast to the often cruder coinage of the other Spanish mints, (which retained inferior production standards even into the 18th century), allowing for a much greater complexity of design upon the coins themselves."
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 13.72 g, 0.917 fine gold.
Catalog reference: KM-Unl. (prev. KM 31), Fr-186, Cal-1094, Cayón-5019.
- 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.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- 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.
- [1]Cristiano Bierrenbach, Warren Tucker and Sam Spiegel, NYINC World Coins Platinum Night Auction 3097, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2021.
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