1868 Chile Copper Proof Peso
Boosibri
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Two years ago, I was able to acquire a silver proof 1868 Chilean peso (https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1095395/longacre-and-his-connection-to-chile-updated-with-discovery), ultimately tracing the origin of the coin to the 1870 Longacre estate sale held by M Thomas. Within the sale, 2 silver proof pesos and 4 copper pesos were noted.
In addition to these 4 copper pesos, included in the delivery of the dies to the Chilean ambassador on July 23rd 1867, Longacre writes “...on July 23rd, 1867, together with the model coins of gold and silver are contained in a box… The model coins being copper examples of the gold and silver coins.
In addition, impressions were furnished earlier in the year with the only example which I can find being plated in the Guttag book by Adams. 
At the 2024 ANA, the CNG sale was on view and included in the sale is a beautiful 1868 copper peso in an OGH. Fully original color, graded PF66. As I have advanced my collection, so too has my desire to have my collection tell a story. As such, I knew I had to have this coin to pair with my silver proof. That auction ended today Sept 18th, 2024.
I was able to purchase the coin for $19,000 hammer, effectively double what the 2022 PN66 sold for at Stacks. It was worth it. As with any rare crown I buy, I try and trace the provenance and create a census ahead of purchasing to build my knowledge around the quality of the issue relative to others and hopefully uncovering a missed provenance.
In this case the provenance work was largely completed with the work on the silver peso…. Brand/Norweb.
In the Norweb sale there are two coins...one is noted with a slightly thinner planchet (the coin recently purchased). A further examination of other coins may indicate that the planchet thickness is a determinate of whether the coin was included in the shipment to the Chilean ambassador or was struck for Longacres collection.
Here is the census and an ask for help in seeing if you can pair the images at the end of the appendix which I have not yet been able to match to the more recent images in the census:
1) Norweb / Brand / Christopher CNG 2024
Note spot to left of “B” in Republic
2) Heifetz / Goodman / Cape Coral
Goodman 1996 Goldberg
Heifetz 1989 Superior
3) Virgil Brand plate 1964 Schulman
4) Stacks 2022 PN66 Lot 34381
5) Whittier Heritage 2006 Lot 16581, probably Santiago 1986
Unable to conclusively match:
Santiago Collection Christensen 1986
Norweb Coin 1 of 2
Sotheby’s Farouk 1954
Lot 2054 describes a proof 1868 “large peso” presumably in copper. Virgil Brand died in 1926. The two coins he had passed to Norwebs which rules out the two Norweb coins as ex. Farouk and the third Brand coin form the 1964 Schulman sale. Thus, either the Whittier coin or the Stacks coins is likely ex. Farouk.
https://archive.org/details/egyptpalace1954soth/page/n219/mode/1up?q=chile
Fonrobert
Finally, I have completed a matrix of all of the Chilean proofs sales since 1870 which flow through many of the most prestigious collections in numismatics...Farouk, Stickney, Mickley and so on. Sadly, very few are plated until recent times.
Comments
Fantastic coin and research, Brian! This is what numismatics is about.
8 Reales Madness Collection
Need your expert eyes in matching pictures Roman!
Latin American Collection
I'm at a conference in San Fran so until the weekend you only have my admiration
8 Reales Madness Collection
What an incredibly detailed piece of research! Congratulations on picking this piece up for your collection, always fascinating to read about the rare pieces that you manage to uncover, and all the context you provide to them.
This is next level knowledge I can only hope one day to get even close to such a place. You veterans are a source of inspiration. Congrats on your purchase!!!
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I’m a little confused. Both your coins, silver and copper, are ex-Norweb? Good deal!
Copper is Norweb/Brand. Longacre minted it but not definitive if this is one that went to Chile or his collection.
Silver I have had no luck identifying outside of Canaparo to Millennia then Teller.
What was saying in the above is that after I traced so many sales in looking for records of the silver peso, that when I looked at the data collected it was quite easy to dive in with a focus now on the copper peso and find the provenance
Latin American Collection
Is there a gold proof?
There are copper gilt examples of the gold denominations but no gold condor pesos
Latin American Collection
Could this entry be related to your research?
Charles III Album
Charles III Portrait Set
Charles IV Album
Charles IV Portrait Set
Spanish Colonial Pillar Set
Yes! Thank you! Surprised I missed it. I have an annotated Newcomer so will hopefully see who bought it.
Latin American Collection
Closing the loop...I have both Wayte Raymond and the Spinks catalogs and bid sheets from the sale along with the Schulman correspondence passing his bids along. Neither of them bought the coin and only a price is annotated in both.
Latin American Collection
Congrats… followed the auction. What did you think of the Paraguay 1855 10 pattern?
Came up empty handed in 127… not for the lack of an effort. There were some impressive pockets of strength that I simply did not anticipate.
Nice write up… worthy of another DPOTD.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
The 1855 Paraguay pattern is certainly a desirable issue which seems to show up once or twice a decade. I saw the coin in hand when viewing and it was nice but the luster was impaired from an old cleaning. I'd say 50/50 that it grades.
There are several types and compositions of the 1855 10R. This being he silver Pn-8 makes it the most desirable of the 1855's in my opinion. The Stacks coin which was silvered white metal sold for $7,200 in 2018.
https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-BGJFN/paraguay-10-reales-pattern-1855-ngc-ms-61
I was surprised but not surprised at the price.
Latin American Collection