Our Treasure of the Month for March is a fully dated 1713 silver eight reales cob from the old colonial mint in Mexico City. Currently on display at the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee, this stunning example of Spanish colonial coinage exhibits a boldly struck date, mint mark (OM), and about 25 percent of the obverse shield. This coin also has features common to cob coinage: an unusual shape, hammer marks, and blunted corners. Although we do not know what the reverse looks like, we can only imagine a well centered cross with nicely struck features. It has been said that “in their crudeness lies much of their fascination”. This example certainly demonstrates why these coins are so fascinating and why it deserves to be our Treasure of the Month.
March 2014 Treasure of the Month
- Posted in Newsletter, Treasure of the Month
Craig Grella
Craig Grella is a digital marketer who has designed and developed more than 400 websites for businesses, nonprofits, and governments.
He has an engineering degree from Lehigh University.
He also enjoys watching Yankees baseball, playing guitar, and riding motorcycles, though not at the same time - that would be dangerous.
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