Starting price:
10 000 USDPrice realized:
20 000 USD Find similar lots
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COLOMBIA. 1826-JF 4 Escudos. Bogotá mint. Restrepo M126.2. MS-62 (PCGS).
A choice example of this famous rarity, the only post-colonial 4 Escudos issue of the nation of Colombia. Known almost exclusively in low grades, this issue's rarity is well known to collectors of Latin American gold. The Eliasberg specimen appears to be the finest known. Graded MS-64 (NGC) it sold in 2005 for $42,550, then resold in the 2015 Lissner sale for $57,475. All other examples sold within memory at public auction have been in the Fine-Very Fine range, often with significant problems. This one is warmly lustrous, with intact cartwheel over both sides. The surfaces are frosty light yellow gold, fresh and original, with some deeper toning on the reverse. Trivial hairlines are seen but no significant marks or other flaws. The centering is ideal and the strike is sharp, just a little soft at the absolute center of the reverse. The edges are intact.
Struck when Gran Colombia included the modern nations of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, this rare half-onza is a one-year type coin of interest to collectors with many different specialties. Off the market for 35 years, this piece has always been considered one of the top specimens known; indeed, until the Eliasberg coin surfaced, this was the finest. It has served as a plate coin in Krause-Mishler and remains a superb survivor of this important issue.
From the Eldorado Collection of Colombian and Ecuadorian Coins.
From Stack's sale of the Mortimer Hammel Collection, September 1982, lot 751.
Estimate: $20000.00- $40000.00