| Author |
 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,258 |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
5953 Posts |
I had a day to do some sight seeing whilst I was in Bogota.
I have to recommend that anyone visiting the city go to the gold museum in the Candlaria section for the city. Its 14 rooms of wall to wall native Colombian gold jewelry. The final wall in the display contains over 7,000 pieces alone. For the frugal amongst you its free to visit.
I would also recommend visiting the Bogota Mint in the same area. They have an extensive coin collection on display and run demonstrations of old minting machines including screw presses and knuckle presses. The highlight of the tour is the viewing of a 52,720oz gold slug sorry no pics allowed. Yes again its free to visit.
|
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2443 Posts |
Very cool. Sounds like you had fun there. Any pics?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
5953 Posts |
No pics allowed but for some reason my phone camera was on I will download and post any that came out ok when I get home.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2443 Posts |
Nice. How large was the gold slug?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
5953 Posts |
I suspect something was lost in translation because 52,000 oz would be about 8 cubic meters of gold I suspect the guide meant to say 52,720 grams which would be more in line with the size of the slug which was about 3ft long and about 1 ft diameter
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2443 Posts |
I wasn't sure if I read it wrong or not, lol. I agree with you, for the size it was, it probably was grams and not ounces.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3343 Posts |
I used to travel down to Cali a lot in the paper biz...I hope it's a safer place now than it was then. On my one trip to Bogota even the Colombians I was with didn't go out walking on the street alone, especially at night.
The museum sounds very interesting. Did you see much Spanish colonial coinage? I'm interested in the COB-making process - how did they form, cut and hammer those crude bars of silver and gold to make coins.
"Two minutes ago I would have sold my chances for a tired dime." Fred Astaire
|
|
Valued Member
United States
280 Posts |
Times have changed in Colombia. Bogota has a bustling nightlife now. Just like most major US Cities, there will always be places you don't go at night.
The Gold Musuem is definitely worth the visit. I've heard that it's not hard to get a tour of the president's home there, but I never tried. We found out that it can be requested in advance the last day that I was there.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
280 Posts |
So OP, what coins did you bring back?
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Now if you would be watching those old agent 99 type programs you would be aware of the fake heel on your shoe where you could have hidden coins borrowed from there.  \ Seriously though. I would have bailed you out. Don't forget the phone photos. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2269 Posts |
Sounds like you had a great trip. Can't wait to see those pics.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
6381 Posts |
About that gold slug.....
Nohope estimated the size at about 3 feet long and 1 foot in diameter. With 12 inches per foot and 2.54 centimeters per inch, I calculate the total volume of the cylindrical slug at about 66,720 cubic centimeters (cc). Gold has a density of 19.3 grams per cc so that volume of gold would weigh 1,287,695 grams. Divide that by 31.1 grams per troy ounce and you get a total weight of about 41,405 troy ounces, not too far from what the guide was saying. With gold trading at around $700 an ounce, that little nugget is worth somewhere around $30 million.
Anyway you look at it, that's a heap 'o gold!
|
|
New Member
United States
7 Posts |
My understanding of the COB-making process is that the bars were extruded, then pieces of approximately the correct weight were cut of the "end of the bar" ("cabo de barra" in Spanish, hence "cob" coin.) These pieces were adjusted more precisely to the required weight with large shears. They were annealed (heated) and hand struck on an anvil in which the obverse die (the one with the more complex design) was inserted into a built-in socket. The reverse die was installed into a hand held punch. Striking was a two man operation where one person placed the blank piece onto the anvil mounted obverse die, then held the reverse punch over the piece for the other person to strike with a hammer. Cob coins were usually struck two or three times, which accounts for the frequent doubled or tripled images, and the uneven quality of the images. No collars were used during the hammer struck era (16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries) which was hard on the dies. Dies didn't last long. When they failed it was a sudden thing - they just fell apart. You don't find many die breaks on cob coins as a result. This process was standard in all of the Spanish colonial mints, including Bogota.
|
| |
Replies: 12 / Views: 1,258 |
|
Posted 09/11/2007 1:11 pm
