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CSNS Signature Sale 3099 5-7 May 2022
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Mexico
Philip V gold Cob 8 Escudos ND (1714-1715) Mo-J MS63 NGC, Mexico City mint, KM57.2, Cal-Type 296, cf. Onza-393 and 398, cf. Oro Macuquino-393a. 26.75gm. Plain tressures variety. From the 1715 Plate Fleet. A notably intriguing and singular 8 Escudos from this highly targeted period of Mexican gold coinage, displaying what at first glance appears to be traces of a flip-over double strike. Closer inspection, however, reveals that the coin was actually minted from 4 Escudo dies initially, before the flan was flipped over and struck with the proper dies, leaving detectably smaller legends at the beginning of the reverse, as well as traces of the Roman numeral IIII within one of the tressures of the cross. That a mint worker could have picked up the wrong dies in the minting workshop is hardly unprecedented for Spanish Colonial Cobs, with Oro Macuquino recording a Mexico City specimen clearly minted with 4 Escudos dies on an 8 Escudos planchet (see no. 393a), and indeed we have offered a Lima-minted 4 Escudos struck from an 8 Escudos reverse die (see Heritage Auction #3075, August 2019, Lot 32344). Clearly the choice to flip over the planchet before utilizing the correct dies must have been intended as a way of disguising the nature of the mistake. In any case, a remarkable window into minting operations in the 18th-century, and a piece of great historical significance.
Ex. Pat Johnson Collection; Privately Purchased from M. Louis Hudson
https://coins.ha.com/itm/mexico/mexico-philip-v-gold-cob-8-escudos-nd-1714-1715-mo-j-ms63-ngc-/a/3099-30304.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3099-05052022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 15000-20000 USD
Philip V gold Cob 8 Escudos ND (1714-1715) Mo-J MS63 NGC, Mexico City mint, KM57.2, Cal-Type 296, cf. Onza-393 and 398, cf. Oro Macuquino-393a. 26.75gm. Plain tressures variety. From the 1715 Plate Fleet. A notably intriguing and singular 8 Escudos from this highly targeted period of Mexican gold coinage, displaying what at first glance appears to be traces of a flip-over double strike. Closer inspection, however, reveals that the coin was actually minted from 4 Escudo dies initially, before the flan was flipped over and struck with the proper dies, leaving detectably smaller legends at the beginning of the reverse, as well as traces of the Roman numeral IIII within one of the tressures of the cross. That a mint worker could have picked up the wrong dies in the minting workshop is hardly unprecedented for Spanish Colonial Cobs, with Oro Macuquino recording a Mexico City specimen clearly minted with 4 Escudos dies on an 8 Escudos planchet (see no. 393a), and indeed we have offered a Lima-minted 4 Escudos struck from an 8 Escudos reverse die (see Heritage Auction #3075, August 2019, Lot 32344). Clearly the choice to flip over the planchet before utilizing the correct dies must have been intended as a way of disguising the nature of the mistake. In any case, a remarkable window into minting operations in the 18th-century, and a piece of great historical significance.
Ex. Pat Johnson Collection; Privately Purchased from M. Louis Hudson
https://coins.ha.com/itm/mexico/mexico-philip-v-gold-cob-8-escudos-nd-1714-1715-mo-j-ms63-ngc-/a/3099-30304.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3099-05052022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 15000-20000 USD