Bolivia: , Philip IV Cob Real (1649-1651) P-O XF40 NGC,...
Philip IV Cob Real (1649-1651) P-O XF40 NGC, Potosi mint, KM12b, Cal-Type 201. 3.25gm. An impressive survivor from the Rodas issues, one of the last assayers who tried to "sanitize"--as put by Paolletti in his "8 Reales Cobs of Potosi" book--the Potosi assaying after the complete chaos led by the Potosi scandal. Few survived due to the eventual re-melt orders after the new pillar style was adopted, this piece standing as the finest recorded by NGC. Organized by the assayers and other mint workers, the plan behind the "Potosi Scandal" was to reduce the purity of their coins while the thieves kept the remaining silver for themselves. The impacts were immense, even shaking Spain's reputation with the Asian trade, where merchants had the upmost trust for the Spanish Cob's silver quality. A transition of coinages occurred, full of unsuccessful attempts to uniformize the currency, one of them being the countermarking of the scandal coins with Crowned letters (or crowns alone), reducing the 8 Reales to 7 1/2 Reales. To set in stone the "New Potosi mint", a new style of Cobs was created (Pillars and Waves) and the scandal coins, countermarked or not, were to be re-melted/destroyed. HID10510052018 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
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Philip IV Cob Real (1649-1651) P-O XF40 NGC, Potosi mint, KM12b, Cal-Type 201. 3.25gm. An impressive survivor from the Rodas issues, one of the last assayers who tried to "sanitize"--as put by Paolletti in his "8 Reales Cobs of Potosi" book--the Potosi assaying after the complete chaos led by the Potosi scandal. Few survived due to the eventual re-melt orders after the new pillar style was adopted, this piece standing as the finest recorded by NGC. Organized by the assayers and other mint workers, the plan behind the "Potosi Scandal" was to reduce the purity of their coins while the thieves kept the remaining silver for themselves. The impacts were immense, even shaking Spain's reputation with the Asian trade, where merchants had the upmost trust for the Spanish Cob's silver quality. A transition of coinages occurred, full of unsuccessful attempts to uniformize the currency, one of them being the countermarking of the scandal coins with Crowned letters (or crowns alone), reducing the 8 Reales to 7 1/2 Reales. To set in stone the "New Potosi mint", a new style of Cobs was created (Pillars and Waves) and the scandal coins, countermarked or not, were to be re-melted/destroyed. HID10510052018 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
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