Heritage World Coin Auctions
Signature Sale 3029 14-16 January 2014
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Ecuador
Selections from the Eric P. Newman Collection of World Coins. Republic gold 4 Escudos 1841 MV-A, KM19, MS62 NGC. An exceedingly rare Quito Mint issue and the final year of production for the 4 Escudos type. While examples of this date are almost never encountered on the market, we offered another specimen several months ago on 9/2013 in our Long Beach auction. There are only about 4 known, including one piece held by the British Museum. The famous Maulme Collection lacked this date and led leading Ecuador expert Bill Christensen to presume that it did not exist. The offering of the present example provides new information. On the coin we recently offered, we noted the presence of an "S" planted within the back of the lower drapery around Libertad's bust. This information led us to surmise (due to the rarity of the date and the tendency for the strike on this type to be incomplete) that the original reference cataloger had assumed an "A" engraver as is seen on all previous dates of the type. While this may or may not have been the case, we can now say one thing definitively: There were two engravers used for the 4 Escudos of 1841, as an "A" is clearly situated towards the front portion of the drapery on the present piece. Notable design differences on the reverse include the absence of a squiggly character (the same as is seen in the leftmost quadrant of the reverse character banner) in the foothills below the mountains; and the addition of a triangle above the entryway in the castle on the left mountain. With this distinction made, we have been able to classify another example of the "S" type that was sold by us in 9/2011 as a well-worn example of the "A" type sold by UBS in 2004. While early census data under the clarified classifications come to 2 "A" and 2 "S", more research is certainly merited. What we can conclude is that of all four examples observed, the present is by a clear margin the finest. There are no distracting marks, and all details remain sharp and glassy, with a prooflike gleam existing in much of the fields. For the South American specialist, this certainly marks a special opportunity.Ex: "Colonel" E.H.R. Green; Green Estate' Partnership of Eric P Newman / B.G. Johnson. Krause catalog price(s) for this item: $7000 in VF.
Estimate: 25000-30000 USD
Selections from the Eric P. Newman Collection of World Coins. Republic gold 4 Escudos 1841 MV-A, KM19, MS62 NGC. An exceedingly rare Quito Mint issue and the final year of production for the 4 Escudos type. While examples of this date are almost never encountered on the market, we offered another specimen several months ago on 9/2013 in our Long Beach auction. There are only about 4 known, including one piece held by the British Museum. The famous Maulme Collection lacked this date and led leading Ecuador expert Bill Christensen to presume that it did not exist. The offering of the present example provides new information. On the coin we recently offered, we noted the presence of an "S" planted within the back of the lower drapery around Libertad's bust. This information led us to surmise (due to the rarity of the date and the tendency for the strike on this type to be incomplete) that the original reference cataloger had assumed an "A" engraver as is seen on all previous dates of the type. While this may or may not have been the case, we can now say one thing definitively: There were two engravers used for the 4 Escudos of 1841, as an "A" is clearly situated towards the front portion of the drapery on the present piece. Notable design differences on the reverse include the absence of a squiggly character (the same as is seen in the leftmost quadrant of the reverse character banner) in the foothills below the mountains; and the addition of a triangle above the entryway in the castle on the left mountain. With this distinction made, we have been able to classify another example of the "S" type that was sold by us in 9/2011 as a well-worn example of the "A" type sold by UBS in 2004. While early census data under the clarified classifications come to 2 "A" and 2 "S", more research is certainly merited. What we can conclude is that of all four examples observed, the present is by a clear margin the finest. There are no distracting marks, and all details remain sharp and glassy, with a prooflike gleam existing in much of the fields. For the South American specialist, this certainly marks a special opportunity.Ex: "Colonel" E.H.R. Green; Green Estate' Partnership of Eric P Newman / B.G. Johnson. Krause catalog price(s) for this item: $7000 in VF.
Estimate: 25000-30000 USD