Page 234 - Treasure, World & U.S. Coin Auction 17

Chile (colonial)

1176. Santiago, Chile, bust 4 reales, Charles IV, 1806FJ. CT-905; KM-60.
13.13 grams. Toned AVF with minor old marks on bust, slightly off-center strike.
Estimate: $70-$100.

1177. Contemporary counterfeit of a Santiago, Chile, bust 4 reales,
Charles IV, 1808FJ. CT-907 (for original); KM-60. 13.01 grams. Well circulated
(Fine) but with contrived edge, incorrect details (mintmark without o, funny 8’s
in date, etc.), possibly rare. Estimate: $100-up.

1178. Santiago, Chile bust 1/2 real, Ferdinand VII, 1816FJ. CT-1395;
KM-64. 1.59 grams. AU with clean and lustrous fields, slightly off-center strike.
Estimate: $100-$150.

Chile (“volcano” series)

1179. Original steel die for Coquimbo, Chile, 1 real, (1828TH), unique and extremely important. 1234 grams, 3” tall and nearly
2” to a side. One of Latin America’s great numismatic icons is the Coquimbo peso of 1828, which contemporary documentation has confirmed
was struck in three different series, of which only a few specimens of the later two are known to exist, valued in the tens of thousands of dollars
today. Much less known is the fact that minor denominations were also issued by the Coquimbo mint. According to documents, on November
18, 1828, the Coquimbo mint’s director Gregorio Cordovez remitted to the Santiago mint for examination a sample consisting of 20 pesos,
20 half pesos (4 reales) and 32 half reales. Of this batch, 10 coins of each denomination were subjected to a thorough analysis of their fineness,
weight, and quality of engraving and strike; all 30 coins failed the testing. But further documentary evidence from late 1829, when the mint
was abandoned due to the Revolutionary movement headed by former President Ramón Freire, shows that the Coquimbo mint’s engraver and
provisional assayer Theodoro Hagen had managed to produce dies for all five silver denominations, including the 1 real and 2 reales. In fact,
inventories made in 1830 and 1841 specifically list “107 finished dies for pesos, fours, twos, reales, and halves, engraved and polished.” (See
Carlos Jara’s book Chile’s Coquimbo Mint: a documented history [2003] for transcriptions of these documents.) The only other Coquimbo
coins known at present besides the two varieties of the peso are a few specimens of the 1/2 real, all from the same pair of dies. While somewhat
corroded and rusty, typically heavy and octagonal in cross section, this obverse die for the 1 real (authenticated by Jara), with most of the
volcano design and all-important COQUIMBO mintmark below, is of the utmost historical importance as the ONLY KNOWN surviving
die from this famous mint. Pedigreed to our Auction #11 (lot 978). Estimate: $2,500-up.

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