Any ideas on this Spanish cob?

lordmarcovan

I was wondering if anybody could provide attribution information and/or a rough date range on this Spanish cob? It is not my coin, and not in hand. Nor do I know the diameter and weight yet, though I have sent a request for that information to the seller.

What I find intriguing is that it apparently comes with an old collection envelope, showing that somebody paid a dollar for it in 1943.

It looks like it might be pretty small, so I'm guessing a half-real, maybe? Or one real? There's that "I" on there. But from which country/mint? And when? I'm out of my depth here.

Thanks!

Top50SetBuilder

It’s a 1R. Could be anyone from Philip IV through Ferdinand VI. Either Lima or Potosi.

lordmarcovan

@Top50SetBuilder said:
It’s a 1R. Could be anyone from Philip IV through Ferdinand VI. Either Lima or Potosi.

Thanks!

realeswatcher

So, pillars side flipped 180 degrees to display properly (cross side has no discernible peripheral detail, so we won't bother with that).

By style, 1 Real, definitively Potosi mint... and should be first half of the 1700s (generally cruder than later 1600s issues). Date would appear below "SVL" but is completely absent, either didn't make it on there (compact planchet) or perhaps some bit originally there but lost to clipping. The bottom left of the assayer letter is visible at the upper right, looks like it could be assayer "E" of the 1730s.

$1 would probably be a bit steep for such a piece in 1943.

lordmarcovan

@realeswatcher said:

So, pillars side flipped 180 degrees to display properly (cross side has no discernible peripheral detail, so we won't bother with that).

By style, 1 Real, definitively Potosi mint... and should be first half of the 1700s (generally cruder than later 1600s issues). Date would appear below "SVL" but is completely absent, either didn't make it on there (compact planchet) or perhaps some bit originally there but lost to clipping. The bottom left of the assayer letter is visible at the upper right, looks like it could be assayer "E" of the 1730s.

$1 would probably be a bit steep for such a piece in 1943.

Thanks! What do you suppose would be a reasonable price range for it in 2024?

lordmarcovan

Somebody else bought it, as it happens.  Maybe I tipped them off with the discussion threads about it.  The buyer got it for less than $35.

realeswatcher

@lordmarcovan said:
Somebody else bought it, as it happens.  Maybe I tipped them off with the discussion threads about it.  The buyer got it for less than $35.

I wouldn't sweat it. About what it's worth, in spite of certain flippers on eBay trying to wring every red cent out of such pieces. This pillars-style design really SHOULD, by its nature, have the date there fairly legibly (and typically does). A piece like this that doesn't is inherently a substandard example.

lordmarcovan

Thanks for your help. I’m not sweating it at all. I just found the piece mildly interesting and would have made an offer on it (to put in my giveaway stash), had somebody not beaten me to it.

I have a $50 cap on stuff I buy for the giveaways, so most of the silver cobs in that pricerange are, by default, rather substandard pieces anyway.

At $35 OBO, this one was better than most of the others in that pricerange, and the 1943 envelope was a fun little extra. But it’s no sweat off my brow.

lordmarcovan

@lordmarcovan said:
Somebody else bought it, as it happens.  Maybe I tipped them off with the discussion threads about it.  The buyer got it for less than $35.

Turns out paddyman98 on CoinTalk bought it… and sent it to me as a gift! So even though I’ll eventually be regifting it myself, in a future giveaway, that was a pleasant surprise.

Tragically, when opening the package with scissors, I accidentally lopped off the dated corner of the old 1943 coin envelope, but I taped it back together, and the coin was unharmed.