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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,833 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
Here are 2 4R Potosi cobs I bought from Harlan Berk about 5 years ago. At the time they had a couple dozen, about half of which had dates. The badly split coin on the left (1669)has the original patina and significant weight loss. The one on the right (1665) I've carried as a pocket coin, so the details are much more apparent, but the black patina is still readily visible. Almost all of the coins in this mini-hoard were 1665-1670 (none later than that), and all were 4R's. Currently iphone photography is the best I can do.   "Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
07/15/2013 11:32 am
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Saw a 2R cob in a dealer's $15 junk box today, in a condition not much worse than these.
Unidentified, (naturally).
Not my area of expertise, but would probably worth double, fully identified.
In retrospect, I guess that I SHOULD have bought it.
Anyone else care to comment on my lack of initiative?
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Pillar of the Community
France
1591 Posts |
For cobs of this type, you should look for a date, and essayer / mint mark on the grid side (there are once at the top, once at the bottom of the grid - inverted)
Mexican cobs have balls at the end of the cross, so you don't necessarily have to have the mexico mint mark on those :)
15$ was a nice price indeed ... but again, if you start checking for all the stuffs you could resell, you'll start running a business :P
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1962 Posts |
The one on the right is actually 1669 (also? not certain on the other from the pics). Note the obvious curve of the end of the last digit just visible where the pillars-side legend date is. Also, one other obvious clue...
Harlan J. Berk may only have had the 4R, but plenty of 2R and 8R were found also. Heritage did some wholesale lots of the slabbed 2R (and 4R) maybe a year and a half ago, and Sedwick always has at least a few 8R (and 4R) in his auctions. Many of those 8R are incredibly well-preserved for "wreck" pieces with little or no corrosion.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1962 Posts |
"sel_69", was it shield-style or pillars-style? Couldn't go wrong at that price if it was def. a 2R not 1R (a lot of people get that confused b/c of size)... but HOW good a buy depends on exactly what it is.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3343 Posts |
You're right, the one on the right is the 1669. And, as much as it's corroded, the 1665 shows 2 dates. I think the reason the Berk employees missed so many dates was due to how black they were.
It was unusual to see so many nearly black 4R's sitting in one place. They used to set them in a box in the store window, and people ignored them. Then one day they were all gone.
Cobs show up in strange places. I picked up a holed Guatemala 1R for $15 recently, out of a foreign coins notebook where it had been sitting for years. Awareness of what they are is important. Most people think "junk" instead of "pirates" or "conquistadors" when they see them.
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
07/16/2013 1:33 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1962 Posts |
Guatemala cobs are funny... few non-collectors of Spanish material know exactly what they are. A lot of ppl have the impression that they are normal pillar coinage somehow chopped down.
Little side note: those Guatemala pieces aren't technically "cobs"... hand cut planchets, but they were struck on normal dies, as detailed by Carlos Jara in his book on the early Guatemala mint. They are more akin to the Mexican "klippe" coinage.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
The coin that nearly came home with me was a pillars type, perhaps half a grade below the example pictured on the right side here. I already have a reasonably nice 8R cob.
I thought about the piece, but I bought something else instead: a brilliant '28 red Unc Irish Penny MS64 couple of carbon spots, and a '37 MS64 FSB dime (together) for the same price. At least, I knew what I was buying with the latter two. Same total cost: $15.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
Update December 2013: I visited Berk yesterday and they still have 2 of the 4R cobs left. They're terribly struck, with only partial dates. The better of the two is probably 1670. They do not show on the website. FWIW, Berk has a huge stock of hammered coins from many countries, though mostly English Charles I shillings.
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1962 Posts |
The dogs of the bunch, undoubtedly, by this point... What was the price?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
$85 for the shabby one, $100 for the one with the almost-readable date. The ones shown above were $70 each.
I passed on the cobs but picked up a few French 5F's for melt. Hard for me to pass on Louis XVIII and Charles X.
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
Edited by thq
12/28/2013 1:30 pm
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Pillar of the Community
France
1591 Posts |
Wow, you got those for melt ?
I used to collect French coins when I was young (yeah, that's my country), I wish I would have found those for melt back then ... :D
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
As with the cobs, sometimes HJB doesn't know what they have in the current market. cgb.fr list a lot of these 5F coins in their archives at 5-10 euros, but lately they've been selling well over melt. On ebay it's the same thing, and you always pay postage on top of that. Like the cobs these 5Fs are history I can hold in my hand. This is Jean Valjean and Mme Bovary's money. "Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,833 |
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Posted 07/16/2013 04:11 am
