Coin or Jewelry?

[prudden]

Hey all,

 

I got this as a gift.I actually forgot I had it for seven or eight years until I moved.

The giver didn't know what it was at the time. Neither did I. After some research I eventually found out it's a Spanish Colonial (Mexico) 1 reale silver piece from the reign of Charles and Johanna.(1532-1555?) The first type(no waves between pillars) were minted in Mexico City from 1536 to 1542. This piece is slightly larger than a U.S. Quarter and is surrounded by an 18k Gold Bezel.

I'm just wondering a couple of things about very old foreign coins and about the interest in these.

First, If you can tell from the pics.What would the condition of this be? Just a general I idea since the bezel obscures some features.Most features a clear.The letters are almost all legible. I've see many of these that are much worse and are clipped very harshly.

Second, would there be more interest as a coin or a piece of jewelry? Thanks for looking.

[satootoko]

would there be more interest as a coin or a piece of jewelry?

The simple answer is that jewelry is jewelry is not numismatically valuable.

 

Once a coin has been made into jewelry it's considered a damaged coin by most collecters, since if you were to remove it from the bezel, there would almost certainly be marks that will tell any collector where the coin has been.

[Iku]

I would put it into coinpill (after freeing it with small pliers)

+ Bezel doesn't look nice. (hope it has a huge gold chain)

- Grade quess= G

[World Colonial]

I do not own any of these but I would grade this one Fine to Very Fine. Unless the coin is a scarce variety, it likely has little value for the reason stated that it is impaired.

 

Also, if the coin is the size of a quarter, it should be a 2 real and not a 1. You do not specify, but the other coins you mention as clipped are known as colonial cobs. Almost all of them were made that way and those that were not are known as "Royals". With these coins, most of them are essentially round though the edges are exposed to wear due to a lack of a rim. Or at least, all of the ones I have seen have been this way.

[Oldtrader3]

The coin says Pius VI on it which would be 1775-99?

[TwoKopeiki]

The coin says Pius VI on it which would be 1775-99?

 

That's "PL" "US" "UL", which is PLUS ULTRA (Latin: There's More), a part of Spanish crest and combined with Pillars of Hercules (straits of Gibraltar) refers to New World.

 

~Roman