Spain 1651-MD A 4 reales
This specimen was lot 72241 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, November 2022), where it sold for $660. The catalog description[1] noted, "SPAIN. Cob 4 Reales, 1651-MD A. Madrid Mint. Philip IV. PCGS Genuine--Cleaned, EF Details. A charming 4 Reales piece from Madrid with plenty of detail. The obverse displays a mintmark, assayer, denomination, and monarch's ordinal, all surrounding a pleasant and complete Habsburg shield. The castles and lions on the reverse are not strongly detailed, but are complete. Part of the outer legend appears above the octolobes, including the full date. The coin has small areas of encrustation, some of which have been cleaned off, resulting in the "Cleaned" designation. From the Pat Johnson Collection." The SCWC reports four reales cobs from Madrid, Burgos, Cuenca, Toledo, Granada, Seville and Valladolid (shown here) as well as machine struck examples from Segovia. Cayón reports numerous varieties for this date (lions and castles reversed, backwards "N's", an 1651/0 overdate and so forth) but the catalog number we have attributed is the most common.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 13.73 g, 0.931 fine silver, this specimen 13.66 g.
Catalog reference: Cayón-6122, KM-35.4; Cal-1038.
- 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.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Menzel, Sewall, Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins, New York: The American Numismatic Society, 2004.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The November 2022 Collectors Choice Ancient & World Coins Auction, Featuring the Pat Johnson Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
Link to:
- 1638-S 4 reales
- Bolivia 1651-P E 4 reales
- 1651-G ½ real
- 1651-MD ½ real
- 1651-MD real, with the escutcheon of Portugal
- 1651 4 reales, Valladolid mint
- 1651-G 8 reales
- 1651-MD A 8 reales
- 1651/30-Seg I 8 reales
- 1651-Seg I VIII reales
- 1651-TO 8 reales
- 1651 8 reales, Valladolid mint
- 1659-MD G 4 reales
- Coins and currency dated 1651
- return to Spanish pre-decimal coinage (maravedis, reales and escudos)