Bolivia 1741-P 1/2 real

Stack's Bowers 2021 ANA sale, lot 44066

from Sedwick Auction 37, lot 823

The first specimen was lot 44066 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Costa Mesa, CA, August 2021), where it sold for $80. The catalog description^[1] noted, "BOLIVIA. 1/2 Real, 1741-P. Potosi Mint. Philip V. PCGS VF-25 Gold Shield. Obverse: monogram with date below; reverse: cross cantoned with lions and castles. For a type with a low catalog value, auction records are remarkably sparse with none of this date offered in nearly a decade." The specimen shown is a 1741 cob half real from the Potosí mint in Bolivia. The Potosí mint was the most prolific issuer of silver during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, nearly all of it cobs such as this. This type was struck 1729-47 and superseded an earlier type (KM 27) which was 0.931 fine silver. Assayer's initials were not used on this denomination, presumably for lack of space. The other Latin American mints placed the date near the edge where it rarely struck up, whereas Potosi issues have the date smack in the middle, ensuring that the date would be legible even if the rest of the design was smeared. As a result, Bolivian cobs can be collected by date, unlike the other mints (Mexico, Lima, Guatemala). The Potosí mint was the last to abandon the manufacture of cobs, in 1773. The second specimen was lot 823 in Sedwick Auction 37 (Winter Park, FL, May 2025), where it sold for $3,120. The catalog description^[2] noted, "BOLIVIA, Potosí, cob ½ real Royal (galano), 1741, unique. Full and well-centered cross-lions-castles with hole at top, off-center monogram with bold full date above the hole, perfectly round VF with uneven toning, first and only example we have ever seen or heard of."

Recorded mintage: unknown.

Specification: 1.69 g, 0.917 fine silver, the first specimen 1.71 g. The second specimen 1.42 grams.

Catalog reference: Cayón-8295, KM-27a; Cal-Type 82#604. The second specimen is S-P48; KM-unl (R27a for type); Cal-unl (Type 56).

Source:

• Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
• 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.
• 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 August 2021 ANA sale: World and Ancient Coins, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2021.
• ^[2]Sedwick, Daniel Frank, Augi Garcia, Cori Sedwick Downing, Connor Falk and Sarah Sproles, Treasure Auction 37, World, U.S Coins and Paper Money, featuring the Almenara Collection of Colonial Peruvian Gold Coins, Winter Park, FL: Daniel Frank Sedwick LLC, 2025.

Link to:

• 1740 2 reales
• Guatemala 1741-G J 1/2 real
• Mexico 1741-Mo MF 1/2 real
• Peru (1)741-L V 1/2 real
• 1741 2 reales
• 1741 4 reales
• 1741 8 reales
• 1742 4 reales
• 1743 ½ real
• Coins and currency dated 1741