Post something from Potosi
BustDMs
Posts: 1,648 ✭✭✭✭✭
I’ll begin with something out of the ordinary.
For years I tried to obtain some ore from the mountain in Potosi. I met South American dealers at the ANA and asked them if they could send me a box full of rocks. No one ever came through for me. One day I was purchasing a few coins from Potosi and mentioned my quest to the seller. He answered that he was planning a trip to climb the mountain later that year! He returned with my rocks and pleanty of interesting stories.
To begin this thread here is a piece of the mountain.
Q: When does a collector become a numismatist?
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
2
Comments
Why the ore? Why not just the silver refined from the ore? It’s all from the same place, but it’s not worth carrying the non-valuable rocks around.
I have always wanted to visit Potosi. I’ve got several (non-coin, non-travel) books on it.
It’s something different that not many collectors have. I just thought it was cool to be able to show the genesis of the coinage.
I have a few refined pieces also. Here is one.
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
Latin American Collection
Potosí was slow to start milled coinage and a year late to transition from the pillar to portrait style, hence 1773 is the first year of portrait 8 reales.
Latin American Collection
Latin American Collection
On my 1981 trip to South America I took this picture in Potosi of the Spanish mint building:
Potosi Mint Bolivia Face
(There are lots of stories about the Face)
And a coin:
Spanish America Charles II silver eight reales "cob" type 1685 Potosí Mint
Silver, 39 mm, 25.11 gm
Walt Disney had one and I have one.
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
Last of the cob coinage at Potosi, minted concurrently with your milled piece. Followed by the last year of colonial coinage in Potosi, 1825.
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
I have one worn coin with a bit of color that my photographs unfortunately don't show well.
@BustDMs those are nice and chunky. I love the irregularity of these. Also, a nice toning. Here is a Potosi 8 R of Phillip III. Assayer R. 1605 - 1613 (ND)
Potosi 4 R of Phillip III. Assayer Q.
1613-1617
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
So in 2015 I visited Potosi. Here you can see the square adjacent to the mint and in the other photo you can see the mountain Cerro Rico so famous for producing massive amounts of silver. Sadly I have no photos of the inside of the mint. At the time I actually didn't collect coins and you had to pay extra for a lanyard to show you could take photos.
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The best collecting goals lie right on the border between the possible and the impossible. - Andy Lustig, "MrEureka"