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anyone know of a copper Spanish Colonial coin....

coachleonardcoachleonard Posts: 995 ✭
in World & Ancient Coins Forum
...with a Spanish cross on the face of it?? Kinda like the thicker Spanish crosses of 1600s-early 1700s silver cob coins of Peru and Bolivia? I
have a copper coin ---about the diameter of a U.S nickel, not thick (but not thinnly hammered either)-- with such a Spanish cross on it. The
coins is SUPER worn but I THINK I detect the shape of castles and lions in the angles of the cross. The reverse is too worn to make out
anything.

Does this resemble such a coin anyone has ever seen?? Were any such copper Latin American coins ever struck?? Spain, as in homeland
Spain, never struck any copper coins with that kind of Spanish cross.

Comments

  • DCHDCH Posts: 332
    Post a pic, I'm thinking one of the Italian states under Spanish rule.
  • AndresAndres Posts: 977 ✭✭✭
    many copper coins of Mallorca (Balearen) have these crosses with lions and castles
    image
    collector of Greek banknotes - most beautifull world banknotes - Greek & Roman ancient coins.
  • LancastercoinLancastercoin Posts: 251
    There are plenty of contemporary counterfeits that appear to be coppers now but were silvered and passed as silver back in their time of issue.
  • coachleonardcoachleonard Posts: 995 ✭
    That's what I would be interested in seeing--- any pic of a COPPER contemporary counterfeit of, say, a 1600s-1700s Peru or Bolivia 1 reale cob, if any exist. That's was one of my theories. My coin is way too crude to be the Mallorca coin in the above post. Still trying to get a pic loaded.
  • coachleonardcoachleonard Posts: 995 ✭
    ok-- pics
  • OchoRealesOchoReales Posts: 1,500 ✭
    Only a Royal from this period would be this round. My guess is that any contemporary counterfeiters would not have been privy to the production of Royal coinage theerfor,e I am highly suspicious that your piece is Peruvian/Bolivian from the 1700's.
    Lurker since '02. Got the seven year itch!

    Gary
  • coachleonardcoachleonard Posts: 995 ✭
    OchoReales, but if this was a Royal 1700s Bolivian or Peruvian reale, why would it be struck in copper? Seems to me that if it's copper that would more likely make it the work of a counterfeiter(?)
  • coachleonardcoachleonard Posts: 995 ✭
    ..or maybe as LancasterCoin said, maybe silver-plated at one time. That would also point to it being counterfeit.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,893 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I do believe there were some copper maravedis struck with the cross design, perhaps in the 17th century or so, but I could be mistaken. (There are probably a lot of types not in Krause).

    Though I can't prove it (particularly with those photos as evidence- I know it's tough to image something so smooth), I'll hang my hat on the theory that you've got a maravedis-denominated copper of some kind which was struck as a copper coin and never as a counterfeit of some silver piece.

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  • coachleonardcoachleonard Posts: 995 ✭
    well i know the spanish provinces struck some offbeat copper types in the 1500s to 1600s so maybe this is a piece I haven't seen a plate for yet--I know I was surprised by a "pillar type" 2 maravedis that Navarre actually struck in the mid 1500s
  • AndresAndres Posts: 977 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I do believe there were some copper maravedis struck with the cross design, perhaps in the 17th century or so, but I could be mistaken. (There are probably a lot of types not in Krause).

    Though I can't prove it (particularly with those photos as evidence- I know it's tough to image something so smooth), I'll hang my hat on the theory that you've got a maravedis-denominated copper of some kind which was struck as a copper coin and never as a counterfeit of some silver piece. >>



    Yes, the spanish tried to introduce copper coins in Mexico & Santa Domingo in the 16th century
    the maravedis were long accepted in Spain itself, but the Mexicans and Dominicans didn't accept copper coins
    for payment, copper was inferior in their eyes.
    2 - 4 and 11 maravedis were made and a small 1/2 maravedi known as a ""blanca""
    all these coins are considered extremely rare

    (The practical Book of Cobs by Daniel & Frank Sedwick)
    collector of Greek banknotes - most beautifull world banknotes - Greek & Roman ancient coins.
  • coachleonardcoachleonard Posts: 995 ✭
    Andres, well I am hoping this coin is some rare Spanish America issue...though this design doesn't match the copper santo domingo or copper mexico issues of the 1500s that I have seen.
  • AndresAndres Posts: 977 ✭✭✭
    Leonard, sadly there are no pictures of these copper cobs in the Sedwick book,
    I would mail him the pics of your cob, incl weight & Diameter
    www.sedwickcoins.com
    collector of Greek banknotes - most beautifull world banknotes - Greek & Roman ancient coins.
  • coachleonardcoachleonard Posts: 995 ✭
    Thanks-- I may do that!
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