KOTCT
Worldwide Coins & Bank Notes => Other World Coins => Topic started by: ElleKitty on March 06, 2014, 08:34:20 AM
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I may have shared some of these coins before, but I have acquired a few new examples recently.
One of the coins I have become decidedly interested in lately are the Spanish Colonial Cob type coins.
You quite possibly already know that when Spain first came to the Americas, they found and began working the extensive silver and gold mines in South America. To transport the newly mined precious metals, they also founded several mints to make coins. I have several examples of the first coins minted in the new world, the reales of King Charles and his mother Queen Johana of Spain. These are the second series of the run, when the water was added beneath the pillars on the Obverse. The first type of these coins are far more rare and I do not have any of them.
In this post I have two one real coins of this type, and a stray one real from later on in the Mexico City mint history. The last coin is a 2 reales coin of Carlos and Johana that was sea salvaged. An interesting note is that coins from the 1554 Fleet wreck at Padre Island Texas are illegal for residents of the state of Texas to own. The state ruled that all coins salvaged from those wrecks belong to the State of Texas. There is a wonderful museum exhibit in Corpus Christi of the various types of coins found on the 3 shipwreck sites. :)
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These last 2 coins are of the second type of Carlos and Johana coins. There is a 2 and a 4 reales for you to peruse.
Another interesting fact is that some coins used dots to mark the denomination. You can see two dots on one of the coins while the other coins as the roman numeral 4. Since the native population had no practice in using roman numerals (and little use for coins either-) the dots made it easier for them to understand how much a coin was worth.
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I can't say much except....WOW!
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I'll second that Goose.
Ellekitty, if some of those coins are illegal for you to own, I want you to transfer
all ownership to me. I will leave them on permanent loan with you. LOL
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:D
Hi Kitty:
Those coins are quite rare and wanted by many collectors.
You have done a wonderful job
George/India
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Thank you everyone. I am very proud of this small collection, and the more typical silver cobs that are also a part of it.
I did want to share a few more photos from the Corpus Christi exhibit on Reales.
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Very cool collection. I ordered "The Practical Book of Cobs" by Daniel Sedwick yesterday. It seems like a good place to start before buying any cobs, since they can get pretty expensive. Thanks again ElleKitty for the recommendation of his website. Here is the site again, since it was recommended in another site: http://www.sedwickcoins.com
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The Practical Book of Cobs is a very good place to start.
I just finished with another book specifically on the Mexico minted cobs. I would love to find one on just the Carlos y Juana coins, but some of those books are quite old, are out of print, and cost more than the coins!
SirStacksALot, I wish you all the best with your new collecting interest, and if you have ANY questions I would be happy to help. I am not by any means an expert but I am starting to learn a little bit. :)