Spain 1715/4/3-S M 8 escudos
The first specimen was lot 34248 in Heritage sale 3106 (New York, January 2023), where it sold for $10,200. The catalog description[1] noted, "Spain: Philip V gold 8 Escudos 1715/4/3 S-M MS62 NGC, Seville mint, S-8-M-8 variety. From an unusual overdate variety with few appearances in the market, this present offering shows matte surfaces with little to no signs of handling and stands as the sole finest certified by NGC." The second specimen was lot 54437 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2024), where it sold for $15,600. The catalog description[2] noted,
"SPAIN. 8 Escudos, 1719-S M. Seville Mint. Philip V. NGC MS-62. Cal-2291. Variety with "GRAT" legend variant. An impressive and beautiful 8 Escudos that stands alone atop the NGC Census, this unequaled 8 Escudos delivers a soft sheening brilliance with the typical surface granularity. Despite a somewhat shallow strike, this example retains much presentability and we expect a plethora of excited bidders for this specimen."
This type was struck at Seville 1701-19. No dates are common but this one (only the overdate is reported) obtains a 60% premium over an available date such as 1710 or 1711. The Madrid issues are substantially rarer than the Seville issues. We strongly suspect that the second specimen is the same as the first, or at least, struck from the same dies, and that the original catalog description has the correct date.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 27.47 g, 0.917 fine gold.
Catalog reference: Cayón-9951, Fr-247, KM 260, Cal-2285.
- Cayón, Adolfo, Clemente Cayón and Juan Cayón, Las Monedas Españolas, del Tremis al Euro: del 411 a Nuestros Dias, vol. 1, 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.
- [1]Cristiano Bierrenbach, Warren Tucker and Sam Spiegel, 2023 January 17 - 18 NYINC World & Ancient Coins Signature Auction #3106, Dallas, TX: Heritage Auction Galleries, 2022.
- [2]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, January 2024 NYINC Auction, featuring the Emilio M Ortiz Collection and a Symphony of Russian Rarities, the Rothschild-Piatigorsky Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
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