Coins of Ecuador

Boosibri

An under rated country in my opinion. Have any to share? To be honest, I’m tempted to add more!

Abuelo

Those are nice coins @Boosibri

jgenn

scubafuel

Those are some beautiful examples. I've found Ecuador to be a real challenge so far.
Unfortunately nothing to add to the thread just yet...

Bailathacl

Higher grade coins can be a challenge to find, conditional rarities are frequent, I find. Anyway here’s a recent one of mine.

MrEureka

lordmarcovan

That 1846 8R is a real stunner. The strong resemblance of that capped bust Libertad to the US Capped Bust Liberties is so obvious as to almost not be worth mentioning.

lordmarcovan

I thought I'd have something to post here, but have suddenly realized that I am embarrassingly Ecuador-less. Closest stuff I've got is Bolivian and Peruvian.

Boosibri

I forgot this one!

BSmith

@Boosibri said:
An under rated country in my opinion. Have any to share? To be honest, I’m tempted to add more!

The bust on the 8R reminds me of the US reeded edge bust half.

WCC

Underrated how and compared to what else?

WCC

@BSmith said:

The bust on the 8R reminds me of the US reeded edge bust half.

Yes, I noticed the similarity when I first became aware of these about 20 years ago. It's presumably the main factor driving the preference for US based collectors.

The 8R is a coin wanted to own before and still like now but I'm not going to try to buy it. I did own a few of the other denominations but no longer do.

Boosibri

@WCC said:
Underrated how and compared to what else?

Ecuadorian coins have long been under appreciated. Just look at the cataloging for the past 50 years. The Wolfson sale had, what would be later recognized as the finest minors extant. They all sold as a group lot, no description other than dates.

In a recent HA sale, the finest graded Argentinian 1/2R and the finest Ecuadorian 1/2r (my coin above) were in the same sale. The Ecuadorian sold for 50% less despite as a type being much much more rare. Ecuador has limited natural resources so the coins which they did make worked very hard. High grade examples are very scarce in comparison to countries like Argentina which had Potosi, as an example, supplying raw materials.

Overall, the series is not highly collected and therefore is relatively good value compared to other Latin American types.

Boosibri

@WCC said:

@BSmith said:

The bust on the 8R reminds me of the US reeded edge bust half.

Yes, I noticed the similarity when I first became aware of these about 20 years ago. It's presumably the main factor driving the preference for US based collectors.

The 8R is a coin wanted to own before and still like now but I'm not going to try to buy it. I did own a few of the other denominations but no longer do.

The 1846 8R is the first crown sized coin from Ecuador. Personally, I wanted one for my set as it was a natural inclusion, more scarce than other types, though still somewhat available in AU, and this present example is the best that exists.

It came from Lissner who bought it in a Louis Collins FPL. Prior to that I am at a loss for where it was though the descriptions in the Virgil Brand sale and the John Story Jenks catalog make me think that it was from one or both of those collections. Back to the point on being under appreciated, despite both sales being well plated, the "brilliant proof" Ecuador 8R didn't merit a photo.

The next finest piece is the Millennia coin, graded MS64. It came from the Michael Anderson sale in Glendinings 1977, though it is not noted as such in the catalog.

WCC

@Boosibri said:

@WCC said:
Underrated how and compared to what else?

Ecuadorian coins have long been under appreciated. Just look at the cataloging for the past 50 years. The Wolfson sale had, what would be later recognized as the finest minors extant. They all sold as a group lot, no description other than dates.

In a recent HA sale, the finest graded Argentinian 1/2R and the finest Ecuadorian 1/2r (my coin above) were in the same sale. The Ecuadorian sold for 50% less despite as a type being much much more rare. Ecuador has limited natural resources so the coins which they did make worked very hard. High grade examples are very scarce in comparison to countries like Argentina which had Potosi, as an example, supplying raw materials.

Overall, the series is not highly collected and therefore is relatively good value compared to other Latin American types.

I know the earlier coins are scarce, since this is typical of Latin coinage from this period and the mintages (presumably rather low). I don't find any of the other designs (outside of the Capped Bust) appealing and I doubt I'm alone in this either,

I agree with you on the 8R, particularly the one you bought. It's a coin with a mintage of 1386 (to my recollection) and I'll guess a few hundred remain but most not particularly nice. As a crown sized coin, it's one I think has good potential. I bought a few Bolivian decimals from the Lissner sale (bid on it live) and remember when it sold.

I thought about putting together a Capped Bust denomination set (1/4R to 8R excluding 1R which doesn't exist) but it's too expensive for me as a side collection. Last AU 8R sold for $8400 on Heritage. I've only seen the 4R in better grades a few times, to my recollection. It's also weakly struck. I think it was the 1857, as the 1855 is noticeably scarcer and the 1862 is rare. The others remain affordable though nice 2R are also hard to find. The one I had was an AU-58 and while decent, lacked "originality".