A Santiago Mint Columnario
Eddi
Posts: 509 ✭✭✭✭✭
had to wait many years before finding a suitable example of a Santiago Columnario for my collection. The opportunity finally presented itself last year. This example, from 1764, originates from the von Schuckman Collection auctioned in 2001.
All told, there are 52 Santiago Columnarios known to exist for the reigns of Fermando VI and Carlos III combined. This example is!
one of 5 known for the year 1764.
It was for me the realisation of a numismatic dream.
I would really appreciate seeing your examples of Santiago, Chile Colonial coins 
Eduard
9
Comments
Wow, big congratulations to you! I’m on the hunt for one as well. Yours looks wholesome. Well done.
Latin American Collection
Great coin! Congratulations and thanks for sharing.
Kind regards,
George
My only Colonial Chile. 1796/5-SoDA 8R.
Unfortunately it’s been cleaned.
The one I would like to own most from Chile is the 1760 4R ex-Norweb sold by Bonhams. No, it's not in my price range.
Next would be one of the few other minors but I'm not sure if any are decent.
@Boosibri, I' ill be following your search with anticipation.
Here is a breakdown of the number of examples known per year. In total, examples from 12 different dates are known:
Year Number of Examples Documented ()
1751 (2)
1753 (1)
1755 (4, with one more possible)
1758 (9, with up to 2 or 3 more possible)
1760 (3, one more possible)
1762 (2)
1764 (5)
1765 (2, one more possible)
1767 (4)
1768 (17, a few more may exist)
1769 (1)
1770 (2)
Several examples are holed and/or badly damaged (about 8 examples).
A few are in very low state of preservation.
Santiago Columnarios which come up for sale are primarily examples dated 1768, and also 1758, with 1767 being the most commonly encountered date.
That is a beautiful example with amazing detail, @pruebas.
Latin American Collection
Forgive an ignorant question, but why are they so scarce? It seems they were minted over several years.
There were not deposits of silver in Chile or Colombia, mostly gold. As such the mintages were very low
Latin American Collection
That is correct. For most years, mintages of 8 Reales at Santiago were at or below ca 20000, exceeding that number only in two years. These are tiny mintages compared with the output of Mexico, Lima and Potosi.
The mintages listed in Yonaka's reference are lower but not always noticeably lower than other pillar coinage.
Your 1764 8R lists 23,346. Yonaka reports 28,471 for the 1767 Potosi 4R. The coin is scarce but not rare, only in higher quality. I own the 1756 NGC XF-45 Lima 4R. Reported mintage is 12,342. There is no breakout for 1753-1755 but of the other dates except the 1752, all are from 50% to 200% of the 1764 So 8R. All except the 1772 LM 4R I consider scarce, but as a guess, usually from 50 to 100 available though the vast majority exist in very poor condition.
Yonaka also lists the 1752 Lima 2R with 208 versus the Santiago 1760 4R (4035) and 1/2R (965). It's scarce but more available from his survey than many other Lima dates with much higher mintages. Same pattern with all the Guatemala minor denominations. None are common and most at least scarce but with maybe a few exceptions, still a lot more common than any Santiago pillar coin.
Unless there are errors in the mintage records, only reason I can think of is random survival. I have never heard that Santiago 8R weren't mostly used in international trade as most other 8R of the time. Along with the mintage difference, that's my other explanation for the general relative scarcity of pillar minors versus pillar dollars.
@jgenn, I really like your 1787 8 Reales
I think you have seen my example before? Interesting they are both from the same year.
Boosibri, what a beautiful example of an 1816 Santiago 8R.