Bolivia 1716-P Y 2 reales
This specimen was lot 72149 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Santa Ana, CA, June 2020), where it sold for $192. The catalog description[1] noted, "BOLIVIA. Cob 2 Reales, 1716-P Y. Potosi Mint. Philip V. NGC VF-30. Quite deeply toned, this charming example offers a clear date along with some elements of the coat-of-arms remaining." The specimen shown is a 1716 cob two reales from the Potosi mint in Bolivia, struck during the reign of Philip V. The Potosi mint was the most prolific issuer of silver during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, nearly all of it cobs such as this. 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 Potosi mint was the last to abandon the manufacture of cobs, in 1773.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 6.77 g, 0.931 fine, .202 troy oz ASW, this specimen 6.32 g.
Catalog reference: Cayón-8674, KM 29.
- 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 Juan Carlos I, 1474 a 2001, Barcelona: Aureo & Calicó, 2008.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- Menzel, Sewall, Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins, New York: The American Numismatic Society, 2004.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The May 2020 Collector's Choice sale: World and Ancient Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2020.
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