Spain 1745-M AJ 1/2 escudo

Stack's Bowers 2022 NYINC sale, lot 8265

This specimen was lot 8265 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2022), where it sold for $312. The catalog description^[1] noted, "SPAIN. 1/2 Escudo, 1745-M AJ. Madrid Mint. Philip V. A decently struck coin, exhibiting some luster remaining in the protected areas, and no significant surface marks." This type was struck 1738 and 1742-46 and is not especially rare. Half escudos were struck in metropolitan Spain 1738-97 in considerable numbers and are quite a bit more common than their silver equals, the eight reales. This is opposite from Latin America, where silver pesos were minted in vast quantities but half escudos would not be minted until the reign of Ferdinand VII.

Recorded mintage: unknown but a common date.

Specification: 1.69 g, 0.917 fine gold, .049 troy oz AGW.

Catalog reference: Cayón-9484, Fr-239; KM-361.1.

Source:

• 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.
• Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
• 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.
• ^[1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The 2022 NYINC Sale: World and Ancient Coins, featuring the Mark and Lottie Salton Collection and the Pat Johnson Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2021.

Link to:

• 1744-M ½ escudo
• 1744-S ½ escudo
• 1745-M ½ real
• 1745-S ½ escudo
• 1746-S ½ escudo Felipe V
• Coins and currency dated 1745
• return to Spanish pre-decimal coinage (maravedis, reales and escudos)