COLOMBIA. 1857-B 5 Pesos. Bogotá mint. Restrepo M205.2. MS-62+ (PCGS).
Full frosty cartwheel luster spins around choice deep yellow gold surfaces. Some deeper orange toning is noted close to the rims. Superb aesthetic appeal and fresh mint bloom are undiminished by a scattering of light marks and lines. Well struck for the issue, though P of PESOS is a bit soft. A trivial bruise is noted on the rim below the date. This is the Hammel coin, off the market for 35 years but plated in Krause-Mishler. This is probably the finest known example of the type. There was nothing close in the Norweb Collection (the Norweb coin follows, three lots ahead) and the Eliasberg coin was graded AU-55 (NGC).
From the Eldorado Collection of Colombian and Ecuadorian Coins.
From Stack's sale of the Mortimer Hammel Collection, September 1982, lot 764. Earlier, from the J.C. Morgenthau and Co. (Wayte Raymond) sale of Rare United States and South American Coins, the Property of Richard Santos, Jr. of Lima, Peru, April 1937, lot 102.
Estimate: $2000.00- $4000.00