Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3044 3-4 January 2016
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Uruguay
Republic Siege Peso 1844 PR61 NGC, Montevideo mint, KM5. Coin rotation variety. Brilliant Proof and choice for the assigned grade with fully reflective surfaces, razor sharp details and milder than the usually seen surface handling marks at this level. Clearly struck on a KM346 Ferdinand II Two Sicilies 1838 crown with "G. 120" visible under "ORIENTAL" on the obverse and the "1838" date under "MONT..." on the reverse. Compared with the current finest certified business issue Siege Peso (CNG 8/2014 lot 2143, for $25,000), the difference in strike is immediately apparent and – no pun intended! – quite striking indeed, as expected for a carefully made presentation piece. Although particularly well struck, the aforementioned business strike piece lacks substantial detail compared to the present coin where all four quadrants of the shield - the Montevideo hill (upper right), balance of scales (upper left), horse (lower left) and bull (lower right) - are fully detailed, including the heads and eyes of the animals. The present coin is also quite superior to the other examined overstruck siege Peso (one of 4 known such overstruck coins), plated on pp. 88-89 in Almeida's "Historia Monetaria de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay" and now impounded in the collection of the Banco Comercial in Montevideo.Quoting the description of lot 31314 in our NYINC past Signature Sale (Heritage Auctions 1/2015), we note: "The 1844 Peso is easily Uruguay's most iconic issue and was struck during the siege of the city by General Oribe ... which lasted from 1842 until 1851 and was later referred to as the Modern Troy. The Montevideo mint had been reopened in 1844 under great difficulties and the silver used to strike the issue was obtained from the city's inhabitants including the religious authorities... Andres Lamas (acting as Director Politico or mayor of Montevideo) gave the 2nd struck Peso to minister of Exchequer Jose de Bejar with the following words: "hereby lies the most evident proof of our inhabitants' generosity... Each one of these pesos shall only be bequeathed with profound veneration and distributed with religious zeal: they are worth one hundred times the value of common pesos which do not bear the motto: SITIO DE MONTEVIDEO." Apart from being Jefe Politico, Andres Lamas had also been the driving force behind the reopening of the Montevideo mint in late 1843 and also a noted numismatist who assembled what is indisputably the finest cabinet of early Uruguay coins in history. Most of his prized items were dispersed in Buenos Aires in a series of three public sales in the early 20th century a few years after his death in 1895, yet the present coin was retained as something evidently special by his son, who finally relinquished it to Buenos Aires dealer Roman Pardo before WWII ca. 1925-1929. Founder of the legendary Casa Pardo antiquarian shop, Pardo was Argentina's and South America's main dealer in the early 20th century, a porteño B. Max Mehl if you will, and among his clients were Rosa, Medina, and Pena. Pardo wrote the hereby included letter of provenance for the coin's following owner, Ernesto Araujo Villagran, another household name in South American Numismatics and who wrote a lengthy article on the "Montevideo Peso" published in 1956. The piece was later sold in the November 11, 1958 auction of the Uruguay Numismatic Institute, as recorded in both the November-December newsletter of the Institute and, later, on p. 89 in Almeida as follows: "Peso del Sitio, 1844, overstruck on a Ferdinand II Two Sicilies crown, with letter of provenance indicating that it belonged to Andres Lamas, FDC." It is no surprise that Lamas made sure that the example of the siege Peso that would belong in his cabinet was made with meticulous care. Per the coin's rather advanced die state. it was undoubtedly produced at the end of the 1,226 mintage run. As the only Specimen quality representative of the iconic Montevideo peso, coupled with its impeccable provenance (the Lamas pedigree is equivalent to being acquired from the mint) and its additional rarity as an overstruck piece, it is hard to overemphasize the desirability of the present coin. Truly a museum piece, fully deserving of its inclusion in the most refined cabinet of Uruguay or South American crowns.
Estimate: 27500-32500 USD
Republic Siege Peso 1844 PR61 NGC, Montevideo mint, KM5. Coin rotation variety. Brilliant Proof and choice for the assigned grade with fully reflective surfaces, razor sharp details and milder than the usually seen surface handling marks at this level. Clearly struck on a KM346 Ferdinand II Two Sicilies 1838 crown with "G. 120" visible under "ORIENTAL" on the obverse and the "1838" date under "MONT..." on the reverse. Compared with the current finest certified business issue Siege Peso (CNG 8/2014 lot 2143, for $25,000), the difference in strike is immediately apparent and – no pun intended! – quite striking indeed, as expected for a carefully made presentation piece. Although particularly well struck, the aforementioned business strike piece lacks substantial detail compared to the present coin where all four quadrants of the shield - the Montevideo hill (upper right), balance of scales (upper left), horse (lower left) and bull (lower right) - are fully detailed, including the heads and eyes of the animals. The present coin is also quite superior to the other examined overstruck siege Peso (one of 4 known such overstruck coins), plated on pp. 88-89 in Almeida's "Historia Monetaria de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay" and now impounded in the collection of the Banco Comercial in Montevideo.Quoting the description of lot 31314 in our NYINC past Signature Sale (Heritage Auctions 1/2015), we note: "The 1844 Peso is easily Uruguay's most iconic issue and was struck during the siege of the city by General Oribe ... which lasted from 1842 until 1851 and was later referred to as the Modern Troy. The Montevideo mint had been reopened in 1844 under great difficulties and the silver used to strike the issue was obtained from the city's inhabitants including the religious authorities... Andres Lamas (acting as Director Politico or mayor of Montevideo) gave the 2nd struck Peso to minister of Exchequer Jose de Bejar with the following words: "hereby lies the most evident proof of our inhabitants' generosity... Each one of these pesos shall only be bequeathed with profound veneration and distributed with religious zeal: they are worth one hundred times the value of common pesos which do not bear the motto: SITIO DE MONTEVIDEO." Apart from being Jefe Politico, Andres Lamas had also been the driving force behind the reopening of the Montevideo mint in late 1843 and also a noted numismatist who assembled what is indisputably the finest cabinet of early Uruguay coins in history. Most of his prized items were dispersed in Buenos Aires in a series of three public sales in the early 20th century a few years after his death in 1895, yet the present coin was retained as something evidently special by his son, who finally relinquished it to Buenos Aires dealer Roman Pardo before WWII ca. 1925-1929. Founder of the legendary Casa Pardo antiquarian shop, Pardo was Argentina's and South America's main dealer in the early 20th century, a porteño B. Max Mehl if you will, and among his clients were Rosa, Medina, and Pena. Pardo wrote the hereby included letter of provenance for the coin's following owner, Ernesto Araujo Villagran, another household name in South American Numismatics and who wrote a lengthy article on the "Montevideo Peso" published in 1956. The piece was later sold in the November 11, 1958 auction of the Uruguay Numismatic Institute, as recorded in both the November-December newsletter of the Institute and, later, on p. 89 in Almeida as follows: "Peso del Sitio, 1844, overstruck on a Ferdinand II Two Sicilies crown, with letter of provenance indicating that it belonged to Andres Lamas, FDC." It is no surprise that Lamas made sure that the example of the siege Peso that would belong in his cabinet was made with meticulous care. Per the coin's rather advanced die state. it was undoubtedly produced at the end of the 1,226 mintage run. As the only Specimen quality representative of the iconic Montevideo peso, coupled with its impeccable provenance (the Lamas pedigree is equivalent to being acquired from the mint) and its additional rarity as an overstruck piece, it is hard to overemphasize the desirability of the present coin. Truly a museum piece, fully deserving of its inclusion in the most refined cabinet of Uruguay or South American crowns.
Estimate: 27500-32500 USD