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Charles II (1665-1700)

 FROM THE 1715 PLATE FLEET

L82.  Lima 1712 M eight escudos, NGC "1715 Plate Fleet MS62".

          A very choice mint state eight escudos from the Fleet. Sharply struck in high relief, very well centered, with beautiful golden color and luster.  As nice as they come the Fleet, and an interesting error variety, the second date in the legend reads ANO 711. This is a 1712!

           For some reason when in 1712 the Lima mint resumed adding a second legend date, the die cutters had a very difficult time correctly spacing ANO 712. In one well known variety they ended up punching the crown over the 2. In another variety they tried to wedge a half-size 2 between the 1 and crown. In this case the blunder was even worse: they initially punched in ANO 721.  That had to be corrected, so they polished out the misplaced 2 and punched in a 1.  But they mis-angled the 1 and positioned it too far to the right. At that point they realized they had not enough space to erase the already partially erased final 1 and replace it with a 2.  The already weakened die may well have failed with more re-engraving.  So the die cutters had to quit at this point and hope that assayer Melgarejo or the Viceroy didn't notice their little ANO 711 mistake.

          Notice how well the lions and castles and cross are struck. On more than 90% of Lima onzas one or another castle or lions is weakly struck.

This onza came to us in a MS 62 holder, but that is at least a point or two too low. This is one of finest 1712 Lima onzas we've seen.  Judge for yourself.

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Available. Price on request.

terravitan@aol.com or 480-595-1293

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L59.  Lima 1711 M, 8 escudos. NGC "AU 55 1715 Fleet" [sold]

A boldly struck, lustrous, well centered Lima 1711 M eight escudos with absolutely no wear. Great lions and castles. Bold cross. Full crown (very rare). One of the finest Fleet 1711's.

       For reasons unknown, assayer Melgarejo (M) omitted a second date on the coinage for 1711, filling the space in the legend with a large (A)NO. Numismatists playfully like to refer to this issue as the NO date 1711.

      This date was a favorite of the jewelers (and the casinos) in the 1960's and 1970's--the lucky 7-11  being an important selling point. Many 1711's went into jewelry and are now reappearing in the numismatic market without mention of their jewelry use. Fortunately, the grading services have learned to recognize ex-jewelry pieces and will not certify them.

Sold

terravitan@aolcom or 480-595-1293.

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