Mexico 1682-Mo L 4 reales

Ponterio sale 151, lot 9736

photo courtesy Ponterio & Associates

This specimen was lot 9736 in Ponterio sale 151 (Baltimore, November 2009), where it sold for $21,850. The catalog description^[1] noted,

"MEXICO. 4 Reales 'Royal Presentation Strike,' 1682-L. Charles II (1665-1700). EXTREMELY RARE type and the first example we have handled. Our records indicate the last example to appear in auction was in June of 1978 when Superior sold the Miguel Munoz Collection, which is the plate coin in Calico and sold for $11,000 over 30 years ago. EXTREMELY RARE as a type, even RARER as a date, with only a few examples known. Holed and plugged at 12 o'clock. Boldly struck on a broad planchet, full legends and central details. Attractive VERY FINE."

The cobs of Charles II are much less common than those of Philip IV and royal strikes a tiny fraction of those. Those royal strikes known today are virtually all holed as they were worn by their recipients. Also, a coin once holed could not be spent.

Recorded mintage: unknown but rare.

Specification: 13.54 g, 0.931 fine silver.

Catalog reference: Cayón-7454, KM R39 (RARE); Cal-type-90#471 (same dies as plate coin).

Source:

• ^[1]Ponterio, Richard, and Kent Ponterio, Ponterio sale 151: The 2009 Baltimore Auction, Irvine, CA: Bowers and Merena, 2009.
• 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.
• Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.

Link to:

• 1668 4 reales
• 1681 8 reales
• 1708 4 reales
• Coins and currency dated 1682
• return to Mexican hammered and cob coinage, 1536-1734