Three 1476-1516 Doble Excelentes - Sevilla - Seeking Information

These seem to be applicable references with the Calicó y Trigo tomes perhaps the most relevant. Fr-129 seems to refer to the issues from the Sevilla Mint with Fr-130 the Toledo Mint and Fr. 131 the Segovia Mint.

Is Fr. referring to the Friedbergs' reference? Are these volumes expensive and difficult to find? Is there perhaps online access?

Is there a reference specific to the issues of the Reyes Católicos (Catholic Kings)?

Catalog reference: Fr-129, Cayón no. 2928 (cross above the monarchs).
Source:

Calicó, Ferrán, Xavier Calicó and Joaquin Trigo, Monedas Españolas desde Felipe II a Isabel II, Años: 1556 a 1868, 5ª edicion, Barcelona: Gráficas Reclam, 1982.

Cayón, Adolfo, Clemente Cayón and Juan Cayón, Las Monedas Españolas, del Tremis al Euro: del 411 a Nuestros Dias, vol. 1, Madrid: Cayón-Jano S.L., 2005.

Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.

Thanks chafemasterj. I was able to order all three books used online. Internet is awesome. Looking forward to the information from the references but if anyone with expertise wants to add information it would be most welcome.

Since the coins were struck at Seville, they are technically coins of the Kingdom of Castile where Ferdinand was Ferdinand V. Though joined in personal union, the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were administered separately. The two kingdoms were not formally united until later. Others might might use "Spain, the Catholic Monarchs" or "Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella" for simplicity.

I received my used Friedberg reference. Mine is the 6th edition from 1992. I think the most recent is the 9th edition published in 2017.

Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 6th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 1992.

The information here is sparse, but the 2 Excelentes coin was minted in 6 Spanish mints: Fr. 127 - Burgos, Fr. 128 - Granada, Fr. 129 - Sevilla, Fr. 130 - Toledo, Fr. 131 - Segovia, Fr. 132 - Cuenca.

The are no mintage figures nor any breakdown of varieties at the mints over the 40 year 1476-1516 period. There were several denominations minted, including the 50 (Very Rare - See thread on Huntington coin), 20 (sold for 6000,000 Euros), 10, 4, 2, 1 and 1/2 Excelente denominations. There were also the 1 and 1/2 Castellanos denominations and the 4 and 1 Ducat denominations listed during the reign of Fernando y Isabel.

Judging by the pricing of the 2 Excellentes coins from 1992, it appears that the coins from the Sevilla Mint are the most common at $1,500 for a EF example. This is unsurprising given that Sevilla became the main hub of the trade with the New World after Colombus' discovery and gold from the New World flowed in through the city. Sevilla is the only Spanish port not on the Sea as it sits on the banks of the Guadalquivir River. Sánlucar, Cádiz and the Canary Islands were other large points of departure to the New World.

Looking forward to the information in the Calicó and Cayón references.

"Gold is a metal most excellent above all others and of gold treasures are formed, and he who has it makes and accomplishes whatever he wishes in the world and finally uses it to send souls into Paradise."

Found this quote attributed to Christopher Columbus in a paper by J.R. Fisher titled: "Gold in the search of the Americas" and it explains both Columbus' motivations and his brutality in achieving his goals. Fisher further writes:

"For the next two decades the Spanish conquistadors rampaged through the Antilles in their search for gold. The crown made half-hearted attempts to protect the native population by encouraging the emigration of peasant families who might devote themselves to agriculture, but without notable success. The reason was aptly summed up by Hernan Cortes' reply to an official who offered him land when he reached Hispaniola in 1504: "But I came to get gold", declared the future conqueror of Mexico, "not to tilt the soil like a peasant"."

Fisher further writes that gold and converting the heathen were the primary motivations of Spanish colonization.

Although the Spanish colonists never found success in agriculture, the British colonists were able to find profitable cash crops like tobacco, introduced to North America from Trinidad and Fisher provides the following quote from Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island:

"That God Land wilt be as great a God with us English as God Gold was with the Spaniard."

Both the Spanish and British collapsed indigenous populations in the lands they colonized and the economic development in the New World was only possible through the import of African slaves for labor.

Not the kind of stuff that instills pride in the way humankind has treated one another.

Fisher paper: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/81787862.pdf

After some digging on acsearch ...

It looks like there are some subtypes that are commonly assigned date/range "after 1497" or 1497-1504. These include Cayon 2934, 2938, 2777 and 2783. So some cataloger must have found a criterion for narrowing the date range.

I also found this single date attribution to an earlier slice:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=567935

That makes my earlier "shot from the hip" wrong. Must have just been and old fogey like me engraving that die and clinging to the old ways.

I wonder if there is something in the coins that differentiates the pre-1497 subtypes from post-1497 .
Also, it is clear from what I am about to write that breaking up and punctuating the name is a common variant, rather than an engraving error.

I spent a few minutes poking around on acsearch, and quickly got amazed by all the variety in this coin. Each of the first 7 coins that popped up in my search (using Spain Doble Sev) was a different subtype. There seems to be enormous variation in the combinations of sigla at the top and bottom of the field between the portraits, and obverse legend. It also doesn;t help that each auction house uses different catalogs (I at least hope that "Calico" and CCT are the same).

Here is what I saw (starting with the catalog Ref, then siglae and legend):

Cal.69 - 8 pt. star(top)/S(bottom). +FERNANDVS ETELISABET DEIGRAT (punctuation by single annelet where I have left spaces)

Cal.73 - cross/S with 3 dots. X FER.NANDVS ET ELISA.BET (punctuation by scroll)

CCT54a/Cay.2932 - small ring/S over 6 pt star. FeRnAnDVS----eLISABeT:D:G:ReX:eT:ReGI (punctuation by colon), Where I have written "e" it is the gothic e that looks like epsilon

CCT53/Cay.2925 - 4 pt. star/S. FER:NANDVS ELISA:BET DIGRAT (punctuation by two large dots)

CCT56/Cay.2933 - 8 pt. star/S +FERNANDVS ET ELISABE DEIGRATI (punctuation by single annelet)

CCT58/Cay.2938 - 4 pt star with 4 dots/S with 4 dots. X FE RNANDVS ET ELISA:BET DIGR (punctuation by scrolls)

And it just keeps going like that...

Hopefully all will be explained in the next book you receive.