Description
Denomination: Silver 1 reale
Period: House of Bourbon. reign of Philip V of Spain
Date: 1719
Origin: Probably Potosi. Bolivia under Spanish rule
Condition: AF (good for type)
Obverse: Jerusalem crusader cross with rampant lions and castles for the kingdoms of Leon and Castile
Reverse: Pillars of Hercules with lateral lines crossing in a noughts and crosses (tick-tack-toe) configuration; [PLV] SVL [TRA] (for Plus Ultra. ‘More Beyond’). below date
Size and Weight: 23mm. 3.99g
References: KM#31
Features and Provenance: The mint and assay marks are not visible but the wave and pillar type and date points to the given description. Assay mark could be Y and mint P in these circumstances.
Along with ‘Pieces of Eight.’ the cob has a long romantic association with pirate history.
From the 15th to 19th centuries Spain accumulated vast amounts of gold and silver from the Caribbean. Mexico and South American colonies. To turn these quickly into tradable commodity. ‘coins’ were cut from crudely fashioned bars of precious metal and hammered into even cruder coins that became known as cobs. They gained their name from the Spanish ‘cabo de barre’ or ‘end of the bar’ as the planchets were sliced off. The edges were trimmed off to give a more or less correct weight. but could have been about 5% adrift either way. Milled coinage was introduced in 1732. more precision was introduced at the same time.
Condition Summary. This varies with the age of coin and there are grades inbetween
Uncirculated (U). As struck with no traces of wear
Extremely Fine (EF). Very slight traces of wear. all parts of legend etc present. visible and clear
Very Fine (VF). Some signs of wear on the higher parts of the relief. all parts of legend etc present. but maybe worn
Fine (F). Wear on the coin and parts of legend etc may be missing or not visible
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