|
|
Cached data
| |
Image may be scaled down and subject to copyright |
| Name: |
1813 8 reales in gold, type of Morelos. Pradeau, Plate XIV, 2. |
| Description: |
23.33 grams, 37.30 mm. 1813 with monogram and wreath above / shield topped by bow and
arrow divides denomination. Deep yellow gold with a generous proportion of lustre in the
protected areas, some chasing and burnishing around the date, a tiny test cut on the rim
beneath the 3 in the date, reverse fields with some burnishing and chasing, a shallow
scrape near the rim at 1:00. A unique casting of an 8 reales in gold, a storied and famous
specimen that boasts a provenance over a century long. According to Pradeau, writing in
1938, "the above two specimens [including the one presently offered] were probably
made at Oaxaca, because gold was known to have been in the possession of the insurgents
there." He goes on to note that other gold Morelos coins have been offered to
collectors, but are fabrications. The method of production of the crude coins of
Morelos—casting—makes positive dating of any particular coin difficult, even among the
more plentiful silver and occasionally cast copper issues. While copper coins have the
benefit of patina being acquired with age, a gold coin such as this leaves no such clues
by which a positive and accurate date of production may be assigned. Harry F. Williams,
whose work "A Monograph Describing The Gold Coins of Latin America and Treating of
Their Rarity" was never published before his untimely death and is known by only a
single copy, found this coin interesting enough to mention it in his research, as did Dr.
Nicolaus Leon in his 1897 update to Lyman Low's work on the coinage of Morelos. Opinion
among modern students of the series may be divided about whether this piece was produced
during the tumultuous period when Morelos was at the forefront of the Mexican Independence
movement, but it stands as a potential centerpiece of a collection of Mexican coins for
its historical interest, long and interesting provenance, and famous rarity.
($2,500-4,500)When this piece brought $62.50 in the February 1899 Lyman Low sale, only two
things realized higher prices: a 1737 Higley copper at $71.50, and a gem 1721 Isle of Man
penny at $75.00. The only other lot to bring over $60 was a second Higley copper, dated
1739.From the Francisco Leon Y Calderon Collection, Oaxaca, Mexico; Lyman Low's sale of
February 20, 1899 (plated) at $62.50; John M. Clapp Collection; Clapp estate to Louis E.
Eliasberg, Sr., 1942. Plated in A.F. Pradeau, Numismatic History of Mexico, (1938), Plate
XIV, 2; plated in Adolfo Herrera, El duro: Estudio de los reales de a ocho espanoles,
(1914), Plate XX, 6.
|
| Price: |
$9,200.00 (2005-04-15) |
| Original page: |
http://www.stacks.com/lotdetail.aspx?lri
d=AN00020113
|
|
