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jgenn

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Journal Entries posted by jgenn

  1. jgenn

    Decimalization

    By jgenn,


    Venezolano
    One aspect of monetary reform taken by almost all nations was to change the subdivision of a currency into units of 10 and 100.  The main benefit was to simplify calculations for accounting purposes and was often undertaken to align with trading partners.  Nations often changed the size and weight of their coins as part of monetary reforms and sometimes changed the name of their currency.  Typically, these changes allowed the issuing authorities to reduce the amount of precious metal without the commensurate change in official value. For world crowns in the 19th Century, many nations settled on 25 grams and 37 mm for their largest silver coins. An important standard was set in 1865 when France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland formed the Latin Monetary Union.    Decimalization occurred in many of the former Spanish colonies in the Americas in the middle of the 19th century as these new nations moved away from the 27 gram 8 reales standard to 25 grams and several of these nations joined the Latin Monetary Union to facilitate trade with Europe.  In Venezuela, decimalization started with the peso in 1843 although no silver coins of that denomination were struck.  In 1872 the currency was renamed to the venezolano with the subdivision of 100 centavos.  The silver venezolano was issued for just one year in 1876.  Venezuela joined the Latin Monetary Union in 1879 and changed the currency to the bolivar, with the crown sized silver coin issued as 5 bolivares.   Here is my example of the short lived venezolano, the first silver crown of Venezuela.  25 grams, 37 mm and 90% silver.  Mintage of only 35,000 and struck at the Paris mint. ~jack
  2. jgenn
    My vicarious trip to Brazil
    In 1807, Napoleon forced the Portuguese court into exile. Relocating to Rio de Janeiro, Portugal became the colony -- its kingdom ruled from Brazil. This transfer of power was formalized in 1815 when the Reino Unido de Portugal, Brasil e Algarves was established and Rio de Janeiro became its capital. This is the only example of a European nation ruled from one of its colonies. The Portuguese court returned to Lisbon in 1821 with Brazil gaining its independence the following year.
    Perhaps it was a subconscious impulse from watching the Rio Olympics but when I saw these 8 reales, re-purposed for use in Brazil, in the recent ANA auction listings, I eagerly added them to my collection. Both examples are from the early years of the Portugese court's time abroad.
     
    The first example is a 960 reis counterstamp on a Potosi 8 reales. These were issued in 1808 for circulation in the Minas Gerais Capitania, Brazil's principal gold mining region. According to the Banco Central do Brasil website, they were issued in conjunction with the prohibition of using gold dust for financial transactions to counter embezzlement from the mines.
    My second example is an 1810 960 Reis from the Rio de Janeiro mint, overstruck on a Potosi 8 reales. The counterstriking of 8 reales was superseded by the full overstrikes starting in this year. The host coin's bullion value was only 750-800 reis, at this time; the inflation to 960 reis was done to generate revenue for the crown.
    Both coins display similar designs, the Portuguese coat of arms on the obverse and the armillary sphere on the reverse. The armillary sphere, an astronomical and navigational instrument of huge importance during the Age of Discovery, became a national emblem of the Portuguese Empire.
    ~jack

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  3. jgenn
    What do you think of this type of coin presentation?
    I love the look of old historic maps so I thought I would try to use one as the background with a coin of, roughly, the same period. My coin is a 1629 Scudo of Odoardo Farnese, the Duke of Parma and Piacenza, from 1622 - 1646. The map is from 1699, by Phillip Lea of Cheapside, London. I think the map helps to set the coin in its historic, as well as geographic, context.
    ~jack
    edit: I posted a larger image to the chat board.

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  4. jgenn
    Establishes private mint on behalf of family
    Sorry to tease with a headline that could have come from current affairs but there's nothing new about powerful, greedy people finding ways to enrich themselves. In this case, I'm calling out Philip II of Spain, who in 1580, negotiated such a sweetheart deal with his cousin, Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, that he was presented with two coin rolling mills, constructed at the Hall mint, as a present. Today, we would deem such a considerable personal gift following a transaction as a "kickback" and probably illicit. It would have made sense to install Spain's first mechanized mint in Seville, the home port of New World commerce, and thus the entry point of silver and gold from its colonies. But, the new mint was built in Segovia, the jurisdiction of close friends to the King, and was not governed by the State but became private property of the Royal Family.
    With such self-serving behavior in the highest places, it's no wonder that Spain went bankrupt four times during Philip's reign (1557, 1560, 1576, 1596) despite the vast precious metal resources under its control, including the enormous silver deposits at Potosi and Zacatecas. I admit to trivializing the economic forces that resulted from the rapid expansion of the money supply, but the sheer scope of the financial mismanagement cannot be understated. It's estimated that from 1500 to 1800 Mexico and Peru produced 75% - 80% of the world's silver. Dr. John Leonard Riddell, during his appointment as melter and refiner of the New Orleans Mint, stated in 1845 that "During the days of Spanish rule, near $23,000,000 in silver were annually obtained from the mines [of Mexico]". That's a lot of capital to squander.
    The new mint in Segovia was called the "Real Ingenio", or Royal [Coin] Mill, and was built at the location of an old paper mill on the Eresma River where the mill could deploy a waterwheel to power the roller presses. The other coin mint in Segovia, previously established by Henry IV in 1455, and now called the Old Mint, continued to produce hammered coins for another century and was never mechanized. The Royal Coin Mill began regular production of silver coins in 1586 and introduced the stamping of the year of minting to Spanish coinage. The rest of the Spanish mints adopted dates on their coins by 1588, as this was seen as a useful anti-counterfeiting measure. Mintmarks and assayers initials were added later for the same reason. The roller presses of the Royal Coin Mill continued to perform their function until they were replaced by screw presses in 1770.
    Here's an example of an 8 reales from the Segovia mint, which can not only be identified as the only mint with machine struck Spanish coins at the time, 1660, but also by the aqueduct featured in its coat of arms and used as its mintmark. You may also note some characteristics of a roller press struck coin as these have a slight wrinkle in the surface and show the perfect roundness from being cut out of the silver strip with a circular stamping tool. There are three varieties of the 1660 8 reales, which may be purposeful, since the roller die consisted of three separate engravings allowing three strikes per revolution of the roller.
    There is no competitive set for older coins like these but you can see it hosted in my "Silver Dollars of '60" custom set.
    http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/CoinCustomSetView.aspx?s=19493
    ~jack

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  5. jgenn

    My Three Suns

    By jgenn,

    A glorious light shines on former Spanish colonies.
    Three of my favorite 8 reales are from the former colonies of the Spanish Empire in the New World. The hopeful aspirations of these newly independent nations are reflected in the beautiful sunface designs of the Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata, Republica del Centro de America and Republica Sud Peruana. The birth of new nations is a politically contentious process -- these republics had to deal with years of internal and external strife to emerge as the nations we recognize today.
    1813 8 reales of the former Spanish Viceroyalty of the Rio del la Plata that included parts of modern day Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia. This is the first year of issue and was minted in Potosi. The sunface design on this coin is known as the Sol de Mayo from the story that the sun shone forth from the clouds at the declaration of the new, independent government in May of 1810. The design is similar to the heraldic device called the 'sun in splendor', notable for having alternating straight and wavy rays.
    1825 8 reales of the former Spanish Captaincy General of Guatemala that included modern day Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Los Altos (which would become the Mexican State of Chiapas). This is the second year of issue as was minted in Nueva Guatemala (Guatamala City). In my opinion, the obverse design embodies the idea of the light of freedom dawning on a newly liberated land.
    1837 8 reales of the short lived Republic of South Peru that comprised part of modern day Peru and Bolivia. This is the first year of issue and was minted in Cuzco. This sunface is thought to an Inca design, perhaps representing the sun god Inti. The complex reverse design depicts a cornucopia of gold from the Peruvian coat of arms, a crowned tower that some sources cite as the Inca fortress of Saksaywaman overlooking the city of Cuzco, a volcano (perhaps El Misti, one of Peru's most active), and a ship in the ocean. Coincidentally, Charles Darwin noted volcanic activity in the area when he arrived in Lima on the second voyage of the HMS Beagle in July of 1835. Perhaps the engraver was commemorating the visit of this important voyage of discovery.
    ~jack

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  6. jgenn
    The Mexico City "klippe" issues of 1732-1734
    With the royal decree of 18 September 1728, Philip V initiated a radical change in the production of silver coins in Spain's colonies. By 1732, the Mexico City mint would issue the Americas' first milled coins that would become the world's preeminent trade dollar for the next century.
    Such a change from the earlier hammered "cobs" did not come with out some difficulties in reaching normal quotas. The new processes instituted machinery for rolling ingots into flat sheets, stamping into rounds, upsetting and imparting an edge design and impressing the obverse and reverse design. To make up the difference in production volume, hammered cobs were continued until 1733, but in addition, a unique method was employed from 1732-1734. These are known as "klippe" issues, named after the emergency siege coinage, when production was hurried and snipping squared shapes replaced stamping of round planchets. In Spanish, these are called "recortadas" for the multiple cuts that are apparent from the edges. They are an interesting hybrid of cob and milled techniques.
    First, lets review how cobs were made. Dan Sedwick presents a better explanation than the oft repeated idea that these were hacked off the end of a bar of silver.* Instead, these were likely cut from a stream of molten silver alloy poured onto a flat surface. To produce cobs, the silver was cut into equal pieces and struck between trussel and anvil die. For the klippe issue, I surmise that the strip of silver was flattened in the mechanical roller to provide a uniform thickness, manually cut into equal sized pieces and then struck in a screw press. This would have skipped the stamping into rounds and edging steps, yielding a significantly faster production output. These are further distinguished by their design, employing a somewhat more ornamental variation of the cob design with the obverse showing the crowned Spanish coat of arms, mint mark and denomination to the right, assayers initials left, and monarch's legend with date circling the rim; the abbreviated coat of arms and national legend on the reverse. A type called the "klippe die on cob planchet" is also recognized for this period and presumably skipped the process of flattening the strip in the roller.
    Why would the engravers of Mexico City produce a new design for these klippe issues? I should note that the appearance of the milled coinage was described in the royal decree and that the obverse and reverse design was executed in Spain by Francisco Hernandez Escudero leaving little room for the local engravers to exercise their talents. Perhaps we can assume that stamping the new design on a coin that did not go through the proscribed production process would be a violation of the ordnance. With the evidence that regular cobs were still produced, my theory is that the engravers were proud of their skills and their local design and produced a short run of issues that would commemorate these using the superior production techniques of their new equipment.
    Here's my "klippe" from a recent Barcelona auction.
    ~jack
     
    *http://www.sedwickcoins.com/articles/strap.htm

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  7. jgenn

    Like a Box of Chocolates

    By jgenn,


    1684 ducato of Naples
    To paraphrase Forest Gump, coin collecting is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna find.  I find this especially true of the Heritage weekly world coin auctions.  Sorting out all of the consignments that Heritage gets into their various auction formats must take quite a bit of time and when it comes to world coins, I doubt if all the people involved are experts in all coins across all of coin minting history.  Still, I am surprised to find the occasional scarce variety pop up in the weekly auctions.  Late last year I found a scarce pillar dollar, one of the difficult date/assayer combinations in the 1760-1771 Mexico City 8 reales series (Gilboy R2, 25-50 pieces known). This one is a straight graded AU with good eye appeal that replaces a rather ugly details graded one that took me years to find.   In a weekly coin auction this year I found a really special coin that just happens to be related to the pillar dollars that I focus on. And it's a pretty important coin in general for those of us interested in coin imagery (as in the images depicted on coins as opposed to coin photography).    1684 ducato of the Kingdom of Naples (and Sicily).  The obverse shows the bust of Charles II, ruler of the Spanish Empire which, at this time, included the Southern portion of Italy and the island of Sicily.  The reverse has the legend VNVS NON SVFFICIT (one is not enough) which was previously seen on medals and printed works of art as VNVS NON SVFFICIT ORBIS (one world is not enough), and depicts a pillar surmounted by a crown and two hemispheres of the globe.  The initials on the reverse are for the mint official Andrea Giovane and assayer F. Antonio Ariani. On the obverse, the initials under the bust are for the engraver Giovanni Montemein.   Earlier depictions of the two globes theme are not as geographically representative of the New and Old Worlds as we see on this coin.  The earliest example that I have found is from a medal commemorating the union of the French King Francis II and Mary, Queen of the Scots from no earlier than 1558.  Another example is a medal of Francis I, with a date of 1515 but likely produced in the 17th Century, showing one earthly globe juxtaposed with a celestial globe. It seems unlikely that Francisco Hernández Escudero was unaware of these precedents when he designed the iconic pillar dollar in 1729, a coin that would become so successful as a trade dollar across the globe.   ~jack
     

  8. jgenn
    And why does Heritage Auctions put them in their own category?
    Before they became a US territory in 1900, the islands of Hawaii had been unified into a kingdom that existed for nearly a century. The Kingdom of Hawaii issued their own coinage, cents in 1847 and a series of silver coins in 1883. The cents were struck by a private firm in Massachusetts and the silver dimes, quarters, halves and dollars were designed by Charles Barber and were produced at the San Francisco Mint. These issues are what I consider to be the coins of Hawaii.
     
    Even though Hawaii is now a US state, I think of the coins of Hawaii as "world" coins and would expect to see them in world coin auctions just as I expect to see the coins of Puerto Rico and the coins of the Philippines (although I admit the argument for including the US produced coins of the Philippines in US coin auctions is compelling). However, if you browse a Heritage world coin auction you will typically see the top categories as Ancient coins, World coins and Coins of Hawaii. I don't have an answer for why they have their own category but I imagine it has to do with bidding action.
     
    I have gotten used to seeing the coins of Hawaii in their own Heritage category but lately I have observed a trend that I personally do not care for. Within the Coins of Hawaii category, Heritage has started to include bullion "medals", with Hawaiian themes issued by a company calling themselves the Royal Hawaiian Mint. Some of these may have a connection to a State of Hawaii government office but I believe the majority are strictly private issues. Now there's nothing wrong with collecting exonumia; I just find their placement in the same category to be potentially confusing.
    Now that you know a bit of the history of the official coins of the Kingdom of Hawaii, please understand the difference when you come across a Hawaiian themed medal, regardless how "royal" it seems.
    Here's my example of the silver dollar (akahi dala).
    ~jack

  9. jgenn

    Mansfeld Thaler Redux

    By jgenn,


    Mansfeld
    It's been some time since I last posted to my journal.  I have lots of new coins to share but I will start with one that is connected to two of my older posts.  Since I have been fortunate to maintain my income close to that at the beginning of the pandemic, I have taken advantage of the surge in interesting coins appearing at auction this year.  I won't speculate as to why the numismatic areas that I follow have experienced a bountiful supply, as there are many likely reasons, but I have answered with my demand.   The featured coin of this post is a lovely 1560 Mansfeld thaler that I acquired this Spring.  What makes it noteworthy is that it replaces the Mansfeld thaler that I sold to a fellow collector that specializes in that region.  I do not regret that sale and the collector responded with a wonderfully detailed write up on the Mansfeld region and the House of Mansfeld and their coinage in the 16th and 17th century.  Although my replacement coin is of the same date and mint (Eisleben) it is a different variety (DAV-9481, according to the NGC label).  However, it is extraordinarily well struck for a hammered coin of the 16th century. ~jack

  11. jgenn

    Anno 1790

    By jgenn,


    Sweden Riksdaler
    Back before streaming became so popular, one of my local cable channels would broadcast a great selection of international television content in the original language with English subtitles.  My favorites were the detective shows such as Inspector Montalbano, Commissario Brunetti, Blood of the Vine (aka the Wine Detective), Beck and Wallander, all set in contemporary time, and the period shows Nicolas Le Floch and Anno 1790.  I highly recommend all of these, which can be streamed from various services in addition to the novels that many of these were based on.   I found the show Anno 1790 to be particularly fascinating because the time period matches that of many of the coins that I have chosen to collect. In this series, which is unfortunately limited to one season of 10 episodes, the viewer gets to experience a bit of late 18th Century Sweden through the eyes of a police commissioner of Stockholm.  Sweden, like many European counties at this time, experienced a shifting balance of political power between monarch and parliament.  The ideas and ambitions that led to the French Revolution in 1789 were present here as well.  King Gustav III, reigned from 1771 to 1792 and died in a politically motivated assassination.   Needless to say, acquiring a nice silver crown of Sweden of the date 1790 was a collecting goal that I finally achieved earlier this year.   ~jack