St. Thomas and Prince 1951 escudo
This specimen was lot 74577 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, February 2023), where it sold for $120. The catalog description[1] noted, "SAINT THOMAS & PRINCE. Escudo, 1951. PCGS MS-65. A lustrous Gem with great originality and attractive lightly toned surfaces." This issue minted in Lisbon for the Portuguese colony of Sao Tomé e Principe, is the only issue of the type. The previous issue (KM 9), dated 1948, was nickel bronze and the next issue (KM 18), dated 1952, was bronze. The coin is fairly scarce, scarcer than the 2½, five and ten escudos of 1951. The colony, originally a slave trading station, later turned to sugar production and finally cacao. The Portuguese withdrew in 1975.
Recorded mintage: 18,000.
Specification: copper-nickel.
Catalog reference: KM-11; Gomes-13.02.
- Alberto Gomes and Francisco Antonio Magro, Moedas Portuguesas e do Território Que Hoje é Portugal: Catálogo das Moedas Cunhadas para o Continentes e Ilhas Adjacentes, para os Territórios do Ultramar e Grão-Mestres Portugueses da Ordem de Malta, 6ª Edição, Lisbon: Associação Numismática de Portugal, 2013.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, February 2023 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, featuring the David Sterling Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
Link to: