Are there many 1/2, 1 and 2 reales collectors out there?

TheGoonies1985

Curious has there been times that they were more collected than say now? I have only been around for about 2 years so I am curious as to what the long term collectors have seen concerning these series over the decade (s)?

Do people always tend to gravitate mostly towards the 8 reales and then the 4 reales comes next? Just seems the smaller denominations get the cold shoulder.

TheGoonies1985

I mean Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala, etc

YoloBagels

When it comes to Latin America and especially Mexico I almost always prefer fractionals to 8 Reales. I just love to see the designs on small coins; and with 8Rs being so common/heavily collected I feel fracs don't get enough appreciation.

They usually aren't nearly as well researched or readily available as their crown sized counterparts, which makes them more challenging to collect. Many of these coins were also heavily circulated or even melted. In Mexico and much of Latin America it is a social norm to polish coins. In many cases even nice unc condition coins get cleaned.

ELuis

@YoloBagels said:

In Mexico and much of Latin America it is a social norm to polish coins. In many cases even nice unc condition coins get cleaned.

Some years ago on one of my trips to a flea market in Mexico, I saw a guy that was selling coins, cleaning a bunch of 8 Reales with a rubber eraser, I asked him to why he was doing that, and the anwer was, to make the coins look good. Yikes...

Abuelo

I do not think many people collect minors per se.

TheGoonies1985

@ELuis said:

@YoloBagels said:

In Mexico and much of Latin America it is a social norm to polish coins. In many cases even nice unc condition coins get cleaned.

Some years ago on one of my trips to a flea market in Mexico, I saw a guy that was selling coins, cleaning a bunch of 8 Reales with a rubber eraser, I asked him to why he was doing that, and the anwer was, to make the coins look good. Yikes...

Hahaha....At least it makes for very rare coins that most of us can afford. If they were all MS it would be boring for most of us that can't play at that level.

ELuis

I only have a few of these low denominations: three 1/2R and two 4R with a decent condition.

If I find a 1R and 2R that I like, will buy it.

GulfRasta

Sir. I collect all Reales and Escudos but that's not why I'm here. I'm actually on a mission from God. To spread a most important message. These coins built the USA. The smaller Reales coins are good for jewelry and the smaller Escudos are actually affordable.

Castilian real drawing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_real

GulfRasta

List of Spanish Mints.
" The four early, permanent mints in the Indies were:

Mexico City (1536–1821)
Lima (1568–1572, 1577–1588, 1659–1660, 1684–1824)
Potosí (1574–1825)
Santa Fe de Bogotá (1622–1820)
Early ephemeral mints were five:

Santo Domingo (1542–1564, 1573–1578)
La Plata (modern Sucre) (1573–1574)
Panama City (1580–1582)
Cartagena (1622–1655)
Cuzco (1698)
Later permanent mints were three:

Guatemala City (1733–1821)
Santiago de Chile (1749–1817)
Popayán (1758–1822)"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_of_Spanish_America

BustDMs

My favorite fractional.