Cob found in California

[treasurehuntr2]

Your find is a one reale that was minted in 1699 at the Potosi Mint (Bolivia). The assayer "F" made coins from 1697 - 1701. His name is unknown. The obverse of the coin is classified as a "pillars and waves" type and the reverse displays a Jerusalem cross. When you have a chance, give us the weight of the coin. This will give us a very good idea whether it is authentic or not, assuming that the coin is silver. Nice find!

goldcoastwayne

Hello.....The wt. on my cob is 2.3 g. What kind of value has it?

 

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[Mackaydon]

At that weight, your coin has lost about 1/3 of its original weight as a 1R coin.

 

[goldcoastwayne]

TH2....a weight of 2.3 gr for a 1 reale is very light. The ideal weight of a 1 reale is 3.433 gr. . The incorrect weight along with the fact that the obverse has so much detail leads me to believe that your coin is not genuine. Try weighing it again, but if 2.3 gr is still the weight...you have a counterfeit, sorry about that.... That is just my opinion.

goldcoastwayne

 

[divewrecks]

Nice Stan....at the time that Frank Sedwick's 2nd edition of "The Practical Book Of Cobs" (1/90) was published, he stated that the assayer was unknown. I will put a note in my book....thanks! If you could give us your reference for this information, that would be great.

Menzel's book. He doesn't refer to a source, but I did find another coin in a Heritage auction mentioning that assayer name with Lazaro (Jose Luis) as the source. See the sixth coin down.....

http://sunkentreasure.com/haroyal.htm

Stan

 

[goldcoastwayne]

Stan,

Thanks for the reference. I will look it over and put a note in my book regarding the assayer...just another good reason to add Menzel's book to my library.

Wayne

 

[divewrecks]

TH2....a weight of 2.3 gr for a 1 reale is very light. The ideal weight of a 1 reale is 3.433 gr. . The incorrect weight along with the fact that the obverse has so much detail leads me to believe that your coin is not genuine. Try weighing it again, but if 2.3 gr is still the weight...you have a counterfeit, sorry about that.... That is just my opinion.

His coin is extremely thin looking in the pics. Menzel indicates that his coins were commonly very underweight, somewhat of a contrast for that date range. He mentions one 4 reale presentation piece (royal) that only weighed 11.1 grams. If TH2 found it in an demolished victorian homestead (rather than a beach seeded by practical jokers) I think it could very well be real. Since it is holed and underweight, I would put the value at $50-$75. I'll give ya $25, no questions....

Stan

 

[goldcoastwayne]

Stan...thanks for the information...nice to learn something new. The tone of the coin looks authentic, I'm just amazed at the detail of the obverse! Hmmm....sounds like the assayer was reporting the number of cobs produced and pocketing the difference in the required weight...the original pension plan. BTW...I'll give you $30..(just kidding...you have a great find..hang on to it...for the simple fact that you found it!).

goldcoastwayne