Watch List notes:

Mexico City, Mexico, cob 8 reales Royal (galano), 1727D, very rare, NGC VF details / plugged. S-M23a; KM-R47; Cal-1380. 26.62 grams. Typically full and beautiful details on a broad, round flan with just a couple tiny edge-splits, lovely toning, virtually undetectable plugged hole near edge, die-match with Lazaro #83, possibly re-worked from earlier dies as the final digit of the date has raised metal around it. Interestingly, the assayer-mark D on this coin has been proven to stand for the monastery of the Holy Desert of Mount Carmel (Santo Desierto del Monte Carmelo), which had inherited ownership of the office of assayer upon the death of assayer Geronimo Becerra in 1677, according to research by Jorge Proctor. The actual working assayer responsible for this 1727 coin was Jose de Rivas Angulo, who later used assayer-mark R for coins made in 1729-30. Also of interest is the fact that this coin falls at the end of the period of Mexican coinage investigated by the crown upon reports of debasement and substandard weights, which eventually led to the 1728 decree to change the design to "pillar dollar" coinage, for which the first model was completed in 1729 and the first coins were made in 1732. Although Royals like this coin were the exception, it is easy to see how the very crude Mexican cob issues of the 1720s were suspicious. NGC #5711821-004.
($15,000-$30,000)