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Unique Mexican Coin added to my collection - Trueview posted
Boosibri
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Thanks @MrEureka for another an amazing coin.
This 1764-Mo 4 escudos is unique as a date with only this example documented. The type itself is exceptionally rare with likely less than a dozen examples of all dates.
This piece is plated in the JT Medina “Monedas Coloniales Hispano-Americanas” published in 1919. From this collection it entered the Norweb collection and from there to Rudman and then Lustig.
Now need the other minors for the type (have an 8E in 63+) and starting the 1747 Dog-Face series to advance the zoomorphism theme of Mexican Portraits.
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Exceptional!
Your collection never ceases to amaze.
Amazing coin... Congrats
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Bravo!
Aside the absolute appeal of a unique piece (which is simply awesome), you can argue that it is an attractive piece on its own merits. A win-win in all regards. Congrats!
Awesome coin with quite the pedigree. I remember seeing it in the Rudman Collection and it makes a lot of sense that Andy picked it up. Congrats on adding a very special coin to the collection!
8 Reales Madness Collection
Nice coin, ugly dude!
Way to go !😊
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
Is there any known history that explains the extremely low survival rate (and/or mintage?) of this coin? Thank you for sharing.
This text from a Heritage write up in the type doesn’t answer your specific question, but does clearly conclude that this type is very rare. I would surmise that they were simply made in very limited quantities for a short period of time each year
When researching the Charles II rat-nose 4 Escudos minted in Mexico City, several facts become immediately clear, all of which point to a general rarity of the entire issue.
Main references (KM, Calico, the Onza reference book) only list generic (and comparatively high) values for the entire type, being unable to distinguish between any of the dates. In addition, old references list only a handful of specimens: the legendary Vidal Quadras holdings included only one date (1768, see # 10196 in his 1892 work Catalogo de la Coleccion Vidal Quadras y Ramon), the also legendary collection of Jose Toribio Medina included only two dates (the 1764 and 1768, see pages 95 in his 1919 Monedas Coloniales Hispanomericanas work), while the less know, yet similarly important Carles Torla group housed but one (the 1771, See # 1619 in Plate 79 of his 1936 Coleccion de Emilio Carles Torla work). Moreover, the several legendary cabinets that have been dispersed in the past 30 years (Norweb, Gerber, Eliasberg, Caballero de las Yndias, and Huntington) housed a combined total of five specimens, some of which are the same of the aforementioned old references (the Norweb coin is the ex-Medina coin for example). And lastly, renowned institutional cabinets hold but a combined handful of specimens: the American Numismatic Society collection lacks the type entirely, as does the British Museum, and only the extensive Banco de Mexico collection holds a - remarkable - three different dates: one example each from 1766, 1768 and 1769.
It is thus clearly seen that the type is extremely rare since the aforementioned census of known pieces among iconic public and private collections yielded a total of eight (8) specimens! It has therefore, justifiably, been long-considered as one of the key types of the entire gold Mexican series.
Latin American Collection
Exciting news!
That's awesome!
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Another unique piece of Mexican gold.
Very cool @pruebas thank you for sharing. What's the story behind this piece, is it a pattern? I have only seen the silver pesos of 1919. Yours looks more like 10 centavos!
Yes, it's a pattern. After I bought it, a few people thought it was a fake. I thoroughly researched it and found it to be (as I originally suspected) genuine. The physical characteristics, the typography, and the historical context "makes sense." PCGS agreed with me. Judge for yourself....
A little history. There was a big monetary reform in Mexico in 1905 and Mexico went on the gold standard. Until 1905, the following denominations were minted: 1c in copper, 5c, 10c, 20c, and Peso in silver, and Peso, 5 Pesos, 10 Pesos and 20 Pesos in gold. The 25c and 50c hadn't been minted since 1892 and the 2.5 Pesos since 1893.
After monetary reform, both the fineness and content of precious metals in coinage was different. Fine gold was 0.75g/Peso instead of the prior 1.48g/Peso. And fine silver was 20g/Peso instead of about 24.4g/Peso. The silver ratio didn't last long, as in 1918 it decreased to 14.5g/Peso and again in 1919-20 to 12g/Peso. The gold ratio, however, stayed constant as Mexico was on the gold standard until 1934.
So in 1905 at the beginning of monetary reform, Mexico minted the following: 1c & 2c in copper; 5c in nickel; 10c, 20c, 50c in silver; and 5 Pesos and 10 Pesos in gold.
The other denominations came later as needed in commerce, following the plan to use the same coin types as pre-monetary reform but with the new physical characteristics specified in the reform. The 20 Peso gold in 1917, the regular issue silver Peso and the 2.5 Peso gold in 1918, and the gold Peso in 1919. However, there was a problem. The gold Peso was much too small. It was 10.5mm (and a measly 0.84g) vs. the pre-reform 5c (and the then-current 1919 10c) at 15mm. So the solution was to invent the 2 Pesos gold, a new denomination which, even though similar to the traditional 2.5 Pesos gold, solved the gold peso problem. The 2 Pesos gold was issued in 1919 and was 13mm and 1.67g, a bit easier to handle. [Side note: 13mm was the smallest coin ever issued by Mexico. Both the 2 Peso gold and the centavo of 1970 were this size.]
Notice the designs of the gold Peso pattern and the issued 2 Peso gold are identical except the UN PESO changed to DOS PESOS and the modified size and weight. The pattern is circulated, I believe because of "pocket testing" for size and ease of use (or lack thereof).
The pattern was not mentioned in any reference until Pablo Luna used my example in his recent pattern book. It is currently unique, and after all these years, I expect it to stay that way.
Great acquisition!
Also cool that one collector had almost every date example of what sounds like an exceptionally difficult and rare series. Well done.
Rudman has an epic collection
Latin American Collection
Latin American Collection
Is it possible that the coins of this denomination were struck only for inclusion in diplomatic gift presentation sets? Could that account for their extreme rarity?
Incredible!!
The trueview is very attractive. Your photos give a much better idea of what the coin actually looks like in person.
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"Numismatic categorizations, if left unconstrained, will increase spontaneously over time." -me