Navarre 1598 2 sols
This specimen was lot 172 in Aureo y Calicó sale 448 (Barcelona, March 2025), where it sold for 1,200 € (about US$1,568 including buyer's fees). The catalog description[1] noted, "1598. Felipe III. Perpinya. Double sou. Countermark: head of Saint John. Nice. Lovely patina. Rare in this condition. EBC [extremely fine]." According to Numista, this type was struck 1593, 1596 and 1598, making it an issue of Philip II, not Philip III. They further state that the counterstamp is from the War of the Reapers of the 1640's. However, Calicó[2] notes the counterstamp dates from 1603 and states that the coin is very rare without the counterstamp. We don't know its official value but it is the same size and weight as a two maravedis. The obverse legend, "+°INTER.NATOS+MVLIERVM°" is an abbreviation of Matthew 11:11, "Inter natos mulierum non surrexit maior Ioanne Baptista (Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.)"
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 2.93 g, copper, 25 mm diameter, this specimen 2.99 g.
Catalog reference: Cayón-unlisted, AC 7 (without counterstamp), AC-51 (with counterstamp).
- 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.
- [2]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.
- [1]Sisó, Teresa, Eduard Domingo and Lluís Lalana, Selección de 500 Monedas, Medallas y Billetes, Barcelona: Aureo y Calicó, 2025.
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