Mexico 1803-Mo FM 8 reales
This specimen was lot 44175 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Chicago, August 2024), where it sold for $15,600. The catalog description[1] noted, "The Single Recorded Example, MEXICO. 8 Reales, 1803-Mo FM. Mexico City Mint. Charles IV. NGC EF Details--Chopmarked. The TREMENDOUS RARITY of this piece cannot be overstated; it remains unlisted in both the Standard Catalog and Calicó, while Yonaka notes only this coin as the sole genuine example. This die pairing makes little sense given that the last regular 8 Reales issue of assayer "FM" was in 1801. It may have been produced in error using a reverse die that had yet to be updated for the new assayer. In any case, this piece managed to exit the mint and wound up circulating in East Asia, as the tiny chopmarks suggest. Some moderate circulation is evident, but any flaws are immaterial in light of its great numismatic interest. From the S.P. Rutherford Collection." While eight reales of Charles IV are common, including 1803-TH and 1803-FT, this particular date is very rare.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 27.07 g, 0.903 fine silver, .786 troy oz ASW.
Catalog reference: Cayón-13944, KM-109 (unlisted date); Cal-Unlisted; Yonaka-M8-103C (this coin illustrated).
- 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.
- Harris, Robert P., Pillars & Portraits, San José, CA: Bonanza Press, 1968.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, August 2024 Global Showcase Auction, World & Ancient Coins, featuring The Emilio M. Ortiz Collection, The Richard Margolis Collection and The Rutherford Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2024.
- Elizondo, Carlos A., Eight Reales and Pesos of the New World, San Antonio, TX: 1968.
- Raymond, Wayte, The Silver Dollars of North and South America, 2nd Ed., Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing, 1964.
Link to:
- 1802 8 reales
- 1803 1 real
- 1803 2 reales
- 1803-FM 4 reales
- 1803-FT 8 reales
- 1803-TH 8 reales
- Bolivia 1803-PTS PJ 8 reales
- Chile 1803-So FJ 8 reales
- Guatemala 1803-NG M 8 reales
- Peru 1803-L IJ 8 reales
- Spain 1803-M FA 8 reales
- Spain 1803-S CN 8 reales
- 1803 escudo
- 1803 2 escudos
- 1803 4 escudos
- 1803 8 escudos
- 1804 8 reales
- Coins and currency dated 1803
- return to Mexican colonial coinage, 1536-1822