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Peru: silver 'cob' type 8 reales ('Piece of Eight'), 1699-R

lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,198 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited February 8, 2020 6:19PM in World & Ancient Coins Forum
Peru: silver "cob" type 8 reales ("Piece of Eight"), 1699-R

Obverse: Cross of Jerusalem, lions and castles in quarters.
Reverse: PLV/ SVL/ TRA between pillars of Hercules.
KM24, .931 silver/.8102 oz. NGC VF30, cert. #2063600-003. Ex- "topstuf", Collectors Universe, 9/21/2015.

This is not my first piece of eight, but my first cob of any denomination, unless you count the coblike 1658 4-maravedis* piece I dug while detecting at a Spanish mission site on St. Simons Island, Georgia. But that is copper. I like the beveled look of the flan on this coin. These primitive coins are as individual as snowflakes, and each has a character of its own.

According to some (probably apocryphal) sources, the term "cob" comes from the Spanish cabo de barra, or "end of the bar", but this may be a misnomer, since these coins were not probably struck from silver sawed off the end of a bar. They were, however, with the exception of rare "royal strikes", crudely struck and irregular in shape. Another popular nickname these have is "piece of eight", and that is correct enough, for the denomination was eight reales in this case. Cobs were also struck in smaller silver denominations of 1/2, 1, 2, and 4 reales, and also in gold denominations of 1/2, 1, 2, 4, and 8 escudos. Because the value doubles with each larger denomination, the gold coins were often referred to as "doubloons". The gold doubloons and silver pieces of eight struck in the Spanish colonial mints have a long, romantic history and are popularly associated with shipwrecks and pirates, since they were the mainstay of commerce in the New World and later the 8-reales coins inspired the U.S. dollar.


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NGC cert verification page (no images, but does have a link to the NGC/Krause catalog valuation page)

Wikipedia links:
Spanish dollar
Pillars of Hercules
Spanish Empire (the New World)
Peru (Conquest and Colonial period)

When posted here, this coin was part of my "Eclectic Box of 20" collection.

Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.

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