A Spanish 2-Bit

Looks to me much more like a 2-reales cob, struck between dies for a larger denomination, than a cutout.

Very curious piece... Not cut down, and not struck from dies for a larger denomination (say, 4R) - note that there a clear Arabic "2" for the denomination to the right of the shield.

The cross style automatically excludes Mexico... and by overall style, it's definitely not Potosi either. It has a Hapsburg shield, but WITHOUT the Portugal escutcheon, so it's not a post-1600 homeland Spain issue... and I can say that by style, it isn't any pre-1600 homeland Spain mint, either.

That said, the two possibilities here are some sort of oddly well-executed/full weight contemporary counterfeit... or, more likely I think, Colombia aka "Nuevo Reino" (Bogota mint), 1630s-40s... which would be a VERY nice stumble-upon!! Several characteristics support the latter... going to consult someone now about this piece.

Perhaps a scan from a different angle will be helpful -

I assume the idea of pre-1597 (when they introduced the OMNIVM style and added the Portugal escutcheon) mainland Spain mint derives from there being no Portugal? Like I said, by style, it's definitely not any of those pre-OMNIVM types.

Regarding the lions/castles... one note: Cob people generally DO call the cross side "transposed" lions/castles by rule... Whether that's perfectly linguistically correct... eh. Nonetheless, that is what "they" call it, not a reversal (which I believe would be reserved for a mirroring error - which would be bizarre since it would involve a backwards-made punch).

But, yeah, the lions and castles switched places here... The most prevalent examples of this effect are Potosi cobs of the early 1620s. On those, the cross side can be transposed, the lions/castles within the upper left quadrant of the SHIELD can be switched... the shield's whole upper left quadrant can be switched with the whole upper RIGHT quadrant... This is mostly seen on the 8R and 4R, but I'm sure I've seen a few 2R showing this effect.

Aside from those, there isn't any other mint/date range where you'd say transposed detail is commonly seen in any way... EXCEPT for 1620s-40s Bogota. Of course, most people aren't familiar with this because Nuevo Reino macuquinas are SO scarce in general that most people don't even know they exist.

I showed this piece to Herman Blanton, noted collector of/expert on the Colombian cob issues (see his website primarily devoted to this topic, macuquina.com). He confirms:



Very nice example of the type... And again, as I assume this was picked up just as a generic 2R with no attribution... great accidental cherrypick!!

Nuevo Reino de Granada will get you every time. Up there in their isolation, they just didn't do things the normal way!