Watch List notes:

Mexico City, Mexico, 2 reales, Charles-Joanna, "Early Series," assayer F to right, mintmark M to left (oMo-oFo), motto as PLVS in left-leaning rhomboid panel with single annulets on either side, very rare. Nesmith-15; Cal-90; S-M3; KM-11. 5.92 grams. A curious little coin whose authenticity was questioned by Hubbard (and authenticated by Nesmith who said "looks queer BUT I think it is [genuine] because it was covered with crap from being buried and the stuff was not too carefully removed") in his typewritten and handwritten notes on the envelope that housed it: "Is this genuine?...I think this [is] ok. Don't understand how the 'G' between pillars was worn off. Looks like an excavated piece, badly cleaned." He probably thought this was an assayer G coin because there is a die match under that assayer, but that is clearly not the case. The coin is, however, badly cleaned as he said, also tooled and poorly toned (it has a coppery look to it) on top of that. Even NGC declined to grade it, but we consider it VF for grade. We believe it to be genuine (look at our Auction 4, lot 202 for a die match) and forgive the coin its sins because of its extreme rarity, which applies to all assayer F coins. No collection could be complete without at least one coin from this assayer (and that's why there are a lot of incomplete collections). Pedigreed to the Clyde Hubbard Collection of Mexican Charles-Joanna Coinage. Accompanied by original tag or holder from Clyde Hubbard.
($2000-3000)