Identify a Mystery Half Reale Cob

NicaJake

Jr. Member
Feb 25, 2020
39
24
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello all. I am a cob newbie but I'm hooked. I've been sniffing around Nicaragua and acquired a few decent 1 Reale Tic tac toe Potosi cobs. In the same little batch I got this mystery one. A clipped half reale I presume. 0.9 grams. But the monogram is all wrong. Looks like a Philip IV or V but the top of the P is missing, the bottom of the P doesn't drag across, and the S is missing. The 23 date... don't most half reales have 3 digits? And with the date section this neat, should there not be some dots hanging around? Was this just made by a very lazy hammerman? I would have assumed the fancy P in the monogram would be a single punch though. What have I got here?

20200224_184018.jpg20200224_184006.jpg20200224_183854.jpg20200224_183827.jpg
 

Phillip V or Louis his son, who had coins made with his name for one year only because he suddenly died. Potosi 1723 in 'last phase' of cob production before milled coins.
 

Hey. I think I figured this out. I have a piece of an 1823 Honduran Provisional Government 'imitation cob'. The Hondurans made these for 2 years. All different. Blank fields in the crosses or castles & lions, dots, no dots, jellybeans, 2 digits, 3 digits, 4 digits. A real mix with no consistency. but these are the only monograms that match mine, and they match well. What do you think? Sedwick has a little mention of them in his book even.
thumbnailFUZ2DB4Z.jpgthumbnail22.jpgthumbnail8SFFAY19.jpgthumbnailN2D185VO.jpg
 

Phillip V or Louis his son, who had coins made with his name for one year only because he suddenly died. Potosi 1723 in 'last phase' of cob production before milled coins.

Thanks cuzcosquirrel! But have a look below. I think it's Honduran. 1823
 

Thanks cuzcosquirrel! But have a look below. I think it's Honduran. 1823


The back looks Potosi, but it could possibly be one of those. The blank spaces in the cross quadrants where the lions and castles should be had me wondering a bit. I'll have to go and look it up more, and I can't say I've looked at a lot of these. There were runs of imitation cobs from several governments, but they are usually easy to detect because of their style.
 

I got a decent look at the back of a 1725 Luis I half real, and your cob looks like it is in immitation. The 1/2 reals from Lima and Potosi had a ticking border on a back similar to the Lima pillar-waves cobs. Mexico City was using a different design that is distinctive on the front and rear.
 

Last edited:
I got a decent look at the back of a 1725 Luis I half real, and your cob looks like it is in immitation. The 1/2 reals from Lima and Potosi had a ticking border on a back similar to the Lima pillar-waves cobs. Mexico City was using a different design that is distinctive on the front and rear.
Imitation for sure. The monogram is distinct in that it does not match any except for what I've seen on imitations. I wonder which country? The imitations are super inconsistent. Those photos I posted are all Honduran 1823 and 1824 half reales, and they are all different.
 

I see it too.

Heya! See what too? A monogram matching the Honduran imitations? Or something else? And thanks for all of your help! Cobs are fascinating because they are all different.
 

Heya! See what too? A monogram matching the Honduran imitations? Or something else? And thanks for all of your help! Cobs are fascinating because they are all different.

As Cheech from Cheech And Chong would say - " you know, like different but the same".
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top