Description
Denomination: Silver Four Reales ‘Cob’
Period: Hapsburg. reign of Philip II of Spain
Date: 1593
Origin: Possibly Segovia mint
Condition: VF+ for type
Obverse: Crowned coat-of-arms. date and denomination (iiii) to right. mint mark to left. partial legend for Philip around
Reverse: Coat-of-arms. legend around not visible
Size and Weight: 29mm. 13.8g
References: Calico 363
Features and Provenance: Along with ‘Pieces of Eight.’ the cob has a long romantic association with pirate history. Our coin coming from the era of Sir Francis Drake and Rayleigh.
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 between
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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