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 Replies: 23 / Views: 3,351 |
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Pillar of the Community
Czech Republic
803 Posts |
What do you think is going on with this coin? Would love to hear your opinion.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
721 Posts |
Not sure what's going on, but I see a mirror image "8 R" at about 2:00 on the obverse (just off the nose) and the same "8 R" around the 9:00 position on the reverse. Interesting coin. Where's it from?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1801 Posts |
Early Guadalajara 8 struck on a cast planchet. Obverse die has an offset die clash. You can see the partial outline of the reverse crown in alignment with the very visable 8R from the clash. Nice coin TwoKopeiki
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Pillar of the Community
 Czech Republic
803 Posts |
Thanks for the feedback, guys. Jfransch - is it me, or is there a double clash? Check out the top dentils clash on the obverse. Looks like 2 distinct sets of impressions.
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Pillar of the Community
Czech Republic
803 Posts |
Also, what has me puzzled are 2 things: the crack and parallel striations on Ferdinand's face. You normally don't see die polish on the elements of the die that's incuse.
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Pillar of the Community
France
1591 Posts |
Wow thanks for sharing that coin - it's beautiful !
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1143 Posts |
There is a lot going on here and the longer I stare the more I see.
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Pillar of the Community
Czech Republic
803 Posts |
cointagous, that's one of the reasons I love this series. The conditions under which these were often struck (or cast in some instances, or struck over a previous cast) are pretty amazing. With all the strike issues, I think there's also some foreign metal in the planchet (12 o'clock on the obverse right above the portrait).
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Valued Member
United States
200 Posts |
That is one interesting coin!!!!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3345 Posts |
Quote:
That is one interesting coin! You can say that again! That is one interesting coin! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
684 Posts |
Can you attribute this coin? Its almost too good to be true.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1801 Posts |
The 8R at 9:00 on the reverse is where the 8R should be. I don't see a clash version of the 8R on the reverse. Hard to tell because the obverse clash is so far off center, I would assume the reverse clash would be the same. As far as the weirdness on the face and shield, this appears to be a cast planchet (Early royalist mint coins are very scarce and valuable but it is common among them to find cast planchets). I agree with TwoKopeiki, this is a great series to collect and the royalist coins provide some of the most interesting varieties.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1143 Posts |
I see the spot you are referring to TwoKopeiki. The 8R puzzles me as I was guessing they were hammer struck. Then I see someone suggesting castings (who would make castings wrought with errors). So I'm wondering how this was struck.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
This 8R reminds me of an ancient coin, in terms of die work and strike.
Is the Guatemala mint a special case in regards to Spanish colonials?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1801 Posts |
This is a Guadalajara mint coin. Many of the planchets were cast, the coins were struck with a big screw press. For a bit of history, this was a "Royalist" mint set up during the 1810-1821 War of Independence. Prior to the war, the mint at Mexico City pumped out enough coinage to meet demand but during the war regular production and distribution were disrupted and in response these "branch" mints were set up. Conditions ranged from really poor to really well supplied and the resulting coinage reflects the spread. Early Gaudalajara coins like this one were the result. Interesting side note, the first insurgent mint was established in Guanajuato by Hidalgo whose troops captured the city in Oct 1810. They found about 7000 marks of silver in buillion form in the town treasury and utilizing the skills of some counterfeiters and skilled metal workers, they produced 8 reales with the Mo mintmark for Mexico City and to this day there is no recognized feature known to distinguish the rebel coins from the true Mexico Mint coins so there are no known certified examples of the rebel coins.
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Pillar of the Community
Czech Republic
803 Posts |
I didnt know that about Guanajuato, Jfransch! Pretty cool. But while we're on the subject of Guadalajara mint - here's another neat tidbit of information. When the mint opened in 1812, for whatever reason they went away with using the standard circle-and-square edge design and used flower-and-square. This continued into 1813, but at some point in the year was changed to the colonial circle-and-square edge. Here's an example of the flower and square edge from one of my 1813 pieces:  |
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Replies: 23 / Views: 3,351 |
Posted 05/24/2011 9:59 pm
