Spanish Gold Escudos

[bigjarofwasps]

Spanish Colonial Mints

Listed by order in which they opened.

Mexico

(1536-1821)

Mintmark-M or M with small o above. The mint produced the following coin types: Pillar type cob - (1536-1572), shield type cob - (1572-1733), milled pillar - (1732-1771), and milled bust - (1771-1821).

Also produced an irregular shaped machine struck shield type coin (1733-1734)

Mexico never produced the pillars and waves coin design.

The first dated coin was struck in 1607.

Santo

Domingo

(1542-1564)

(1573-1578)

Mintmark-SP or monogram s overlapping the left side of a large D with a small o above. The mint produced the following coins types: Pillar type cob - (1542-1564) rare, shield type cob - (1573-1578) very rare.

Since the mint closed in 1578, none of the later coin types or dated coins were ever produced.

Lima

(1568-1572)

(1577-1588)

(1659-1660)

(1684-1824)

Mintmark-P, or P with star above, or L, or LM, or LIMA, or a slightly overlapped ME. Lima has the distinction of being the only mint to strike all five of the coin types. Pillar type cob - (1568-1571), shield type cob - (1572 and 1577-1588), pillars and waves type cob - (1659-1660 and 1684-1752), milled pillar - (1752-1772), and milled bust - (1772-1824).

The first dated coin was struck in 1659.

La Plata

(1573-1574)

Mintmark-P. The mint was in operation for a few short months and produced only shield type cobs, which are indistinguishable from those of early Potosi

No dated coins were produced.

Potosi

(1574-1825)

Mintmark-P or later a monogram PTSI which looks similar to a dollar sign ($). The mint opened after the pillar type cob period, thus it is the only coin type not to see production. Shield type cob - (1574-1652), pillars and waves type cob - (1652-1773), milled pillar - (1767-1770), and milled bust - (1773-1825).

The first dated coin was struck in 1617.

Panama

(1580-1582)

Mintmark-AP arranged vertically. The mint was in operation for only a couple of years and produced a limited number of undated shield type cobs - all very rare.

Cartagena

(1622-1655)

Mintmark-S, or RN arranged vertically, or NR arranged vertically, or C. The mint produced the following coin types: Shield type cob - (1622-1635) rare and pillars and waves cob - (1653-1655) also rare.

The first dated coin was struck at the mint opening in 1622.

The Cartegena mint is known more for its gold escudos coin production.

Bogot?

(1622-1820)

Mintmark-S, or NR both vertically or horizontally, or NR with a small o above each arranged both vertically or horizontally, or NR alone or with a single small o above, or N, or SF or FS both vertically or horizontally, or F. The mint produced the following coins types: Shield type cob - (1622-1651) rare, pillars and waves cob - (1651-1748) rare, milled pillar - (1759-1762) very rare, and milled bust - (1772-1820) also rare.

The first dated coin was struck at the mint opening in 1622.

The Bogot? mint is known more for its gold escudos coin production.

Cuzco

(1698)

(1824)

Mintmark-C or CUZ. The mint produced only one type of silver coinage, that being the dated milled bust type in 1824 which incorporated the mintmark CUZ.

Only gold 1 and 2 escudos were minted in 1698 using the pillars and waves design and the mintmark C.

Guatemala

(1733-1821)

Mintmark-G or NG. The mint opened in 1733 when the first machine struck coins were being introduced to the colonies. The mint produced a hand cut pillar type coin (1733-1753) very similar to the later milled pillar coin but irregular in shape like a conventional cob. Minted next was the milled pillar - (1754-1771) followed by the milled bust - (1773-1817).

Santiago

(1749-1817)

Mintmark-S with a small o above. The mint produced two types of coins, a very rare milled pillar - (1751-1770) and a more common milled bust - (1771-1821).

The Santiago mint is known more for its gold escudos coin production.

Popayan

(1758-1822)

Mintmark-P. The mint produced only one type of silver coinage, the rare milled bust - (1810-1822).

The Popayan mint is known more for its gold escudos coin production.

[bigjarofwasps]

Spanish and Spanish colonial gold coins were minted in denominations of 8, 4, 2, 1, and 1/2 escudos, the 1/2 escudos existing only in the later milled bust type coinage. Gold escudos coins were valued at 16 times that of the silver reales issues, thus one 8 escudos gold coin would be equivalent to sixteen 8 reales silver coins. Due to their high valuation, gold coins were seldom used except by the rich, and therefore were not exposed to heavy wear from frequent transactions. For this reason, and because gold does not corrode like silver, most gold escudos coins are superior in quality compared to the silver reales issues.

[Bear]

Hello,

When I was a kid I got this while I was in Grand Cayman. Its is a shipwreck coin that I believe is dated 1712. It came with a cert. that had all the information but can't find it.

thanks,

barry

[Bear]

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