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Colombian Gold Cobs

Colombia, known as the New Kingdom of Granada in its Spanish Colonial period, struck gold cobs from the mid-1620's to 1756 , a remarkable 130 year span. (A pattern coinage of 1622 (SF) may have been struck in Spain or in the Nuevo Reino.) The Nuevo Reino had two mints. Cartagena ( mint mark RN or C ) may have begun the coinage, but after a respectable output in the late 1620's and early 1630’s faded into oblivion, closing officially in 1655. Sante Fe de Bogota ( mint mark NR but later SF ) was the workhorse and principal mint of the New Kingdom from the late 1620’s.

In its first 110 years or so, Bogota issued only two and one escudos. More than 98% of the surviving population from that period is in the form of two escudos. Finally in the late 1730’s under assayer Molano (M), Bogota began to strike both 4 and 8 escudos. All 4 and 8 Bogota 8 escudos are rare (about 150 survive).

Many of the surviving Bogota two escudos are 1715 Fleet issues from the period 1705-1714. The only known Bogota assayer of this period is Benaventura de Arce, who after 1701 apparently declined to engrave a mint mark or assayer’s mark on his dies! These dies through 1713 also bear the royal name of Carolus, not Philippus.

Besides the wrecks of the 1715 Fleet, two other shipwrecks have contributed to our knowledge of Bogota gold cobs. The 1636 Colombian river wreck known as the Mesuno Hoard and the 1656 Bahamian wreck of the Maravillas have each contributed over a 1000 coins to the surviving population of “Bogies.” The Atocha was also a source of 1622 issue attributed to the Cartagena mint.

COLOMBIA

Santa Fe de Bogota. Two Escudos dated 1668. Unique. Philip IV/Carolus II posthumous

DISCOVERY COIN. Students of Colombian gold cobs have long known about a series of posthumous issues of Carlos II under Philip V. Two escudos bearing the name of Carlos on the shield side and Philip on the cross side were issued at Bogota until 1714. Now with the discovery of this unique specimen of a 1668 Bogota 2 escudos, we have evidence that a similar posthumous coinage of Philip IV under his successor in 1665, Carlos II, continued until at least 1668. This 1668 2 escudos shows the new monarch's name CAR[OLUS] displaced to the cross side, while a Philip IV die continues to be used on the shield side. Only faint traces of the bottom of the P and H can be seen, but it is without question a Philip IV die with the deceased monarch's name in the normal position.

Several explanations for this posthumous coinage suggest themselves besides filial piety. We know from our study of MARAVILLAS two escudos that expensive gold dies were re-used year after year for as long as a die was at all serviceable. No doubt Bogota had some good Philip IV dies when it received news of the King's death in 1666. Throwing them away was unthinkable to the ever frugal assayer Ramos, and unnecesssary when the legalities could be preserved by pairing them with cross dies bearing the name of the new monarch. Dated Bogota two escudos from the period 1666-1669 are extremely rare, so this posthumous coinage has not been noticed before. No important collection--- not Lasser, Gebauer, Floyd, or Vidal y Quadras-- could obtain a dated 1668. This is the only known specimen of that date and of the posthumous Philip IV/ Carolus II series. 

This 1668 Bogota is lustrous, virtually mint state, and full weight at 6.73 gm. It has a full cross and boldly struck shield. The Nuevo Reino (NR) mint mark appears to the left of the shield. Notice the Garcia-style extensions on a Ramos-era cross.The(1)668 date is large and sharp with the last two digits complete. There is no doubling anywhere on the coin.

Sold.
 

COLOMBIA

From the Treasure of the Maravillas
lost January 4, 1656 off the Bahamas Grand Banks

1654 R Santa Fe de Bogota Two Escudos
an extremely lustrous mint state coin graded MS63 by NGC

The story of the tragic loss of the Maravillas, bound for Spain in January 1656, with treasure salvaged from another shipwreck, is too familiar to need retelling here. Bob Marx rediscovered the wrecksite in 1972 and published a wonderful account of his struggles to salvage the wreck. After Marx, the salvage of the Maravillas passed to a company called MAREX in the 1980’s. One of the principals of MAREX died a few years ago and in February 2005 Goldberg’s began auctioning the 140 or so Bogota two escudos in his estate-- whence this coin, as lot 4284 in their Pre-Long Beach Sale # 41.
All of the MAREX Maravillas coins were sent to NGC for grading. This is only coin to earn a grade of MS63 or higher, principally because it retains its full original mint luster, absolutely remarkable on a 350 year old ocean coin! The cross is sharply struck and perfect, unlike most crosses on Maravillas-era Bogotas struck by assayer Ramos (R). All four digits of the date are clear. On the shield side, the mint mark (NR), denomination (II) and assayer’s initial (R) are all present and clear. The shield is not weakly struck, but struck from an extremely worn die that had been in service for at least two years.
For the collector who wants the finest example of a dated Bogota two escudos recovered from the Maravillas, this is the coin!

Sold.

Santa Fe de Bogota. Two escudos dated 1732/1. Rare date, unique overdate.

Mint:     Santa Fe de Bogota, Nuevo Reino de Granada (modern Colombia)
Denomination:      two escudos
Date:       1732/1,  reign of Philip V ( 1700-1746 )
Assayer:     none present on dies but the style of Sanchez
Style/Weight:       large planchet (20 mm) and full weight at 6.75 grams

Obverse: Simplified Spanish royal arms with lions and castles in reversed position, as is typical of Bogota. F to the left, S to the right of the shield.
Reverse: Cross potent surrounded by double-strand quatrefoil. Fleurs-de-lis in angles of the cross. Four annulets border the quatrefoil at the intersections.

Virtually mint state, ocean surfaces, lustrous golden color--the photo is terrible--such as you usually find on Bogies from the 1715 Fleet. The date was unknown until the 1970's when a very small group of 1731-1732 Bogies surfaced in Florida, represented as Coffin Patch finds from the site of EL RUBI, the capitana of the 1733 Fleet. No other wrecks besides the Florida 1733 Fleet haves yielded mint state 1731-32 Bogies.

For Sale. $3350
 

From the famous MESUNO HOARD (1636)

Nuevo Reino de Granada (modern Colombia), mint of Santa Fe de Bogota. Two escudos. (1636). Assayer Alonso de Anuncibay.

This Bogota two escudos is one of a group of gold cobs salvaged in 1936 from a shipwreck in the Magdalena River. Gold freshly minted in Bogota was ferried down the wild Magdalena to Cartagena and the coast. One such shipload came to grief in 1636 at a site known as El Mesuno. 300 years later the wreck and her treasure were discovered by accident. The full story of the El Mesuno wreck is retold in several places, but the definitive account comes from the Colombian scholar Leopoldo Cancio in two Gaceta Numismatica articles from 1978-79.

This coin is a better example of a Mesuno doblon, which tend to reflect the primitive minting condition that prevailed at Bogota in 1636. Planchets were often very irregular, designs poorly struck and badly off-center, leaving the mint mark ( N.R. ) and assayer initial ( A ) absent or illegible. Both of these crucial features are boldly present on this coin, to the left of a nearly complete Hapsburg crown and shield. On the reverse we have a complete and bold Jerusalem cross with the huge fleurs-de-lis which are definitive of the later style of assayer Anuncibay ( 1632-42). Some parts of the legend are visible but no date can be seen. We know that the coin was struck in 1636 because both its shield and cross dies match specimens showing a 1636 date. See, for example, Joe Lasser’s M50S-15 in his Cob Coinage of Colombia.

The coin is full weight at 6.67 gm and shows absolutely no circulation wear. The surfaces have the same lustrous golden matte finish we see on gold cobs recovered from the 1715 Fleet and Maravillas.

The coin has a recent US auction pedigree. It sold in CNG Sale #76 as lot 1739, where its realized $1840.

- Sold.

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