Ever since I got my first Red Book when I was a kid I remember seeing the Pillar Dollar in the opening pages and always thought it was pretty cool. Fast forward to today & I finally added one to my collection. I purchased it from Harlan J Berk Buy or Big sale, the price seemed pretty good & I was lucky to get it on the opening of the sale. Ferdinand VI (1747 - 1759) Mexico AR 8 Reales O: FERDND·VI·D·G·HISPAN·ET IND·REX M F 8, Crowned arms shield flanked by value and initials. R: VTRAQUE VNUM; Mo 1756 MoCrowned hemispheres flanked by crowned pillars. 27g 39mm KM#104.2 Ex. Harlan J Berk Buy or Bid Sale #212, July 2020
Mat, I'm on your page (metaphorically) about the entire collecting-as-a-kid thing. Yep, including old Red Books, and That Same pillar dollar. ...We were There. Except, your example can only compare favorably to the one in the Red Books, never mind the quality of the pictures. (Sadly, all of this is from memory. ...Memo to self: this is Why you Don't Toss Books.)
Wow, that comes out of left field! I always thought of these as pirate treasure coins and wanted one myself. That’s actually a lie. I wanted a treasure chest of them. This is a really nice coin. Occasionally there is a relative bargain in their offerings. Good job spotting it.
...Well, except, by the time these were being minted in Mexico City, piracy along the lines of Edward Teach et al. was already a memory. ...For that, you're mostly stuck with 'cobs,' for instance from Mexico City and Potosi. It's kind of like that much of the medieval series; what you get in terms of historical context, you're likely to lose esthetically.
Nice coin. Here's what happened to one of these pillar dollars (Mexico, 1769) after it got caught up in the China trade for a few years - chopmarks, crud, etc.:
The OP's coin looks pretty good but be aware that there are very good looking counterfeits out there -- including ones with chops (and I am particularly suspicious when I see the same chops repeated multiple times). Please check for the proper edge design and weight your examples and make sure they are at least 26.80g. Checking that the specific gravity is 10.31 would be a good way to verify that the alloy is correct.
Same here, when I was a kid. It used to be the very first coin pictured in the Red Book. It might still be, but in my new 5th Edition Mega Red I notice the honor of being pictured in the introduction has gone to the New England shilling instead.
Very nice, and congrats on obtaining a genuine piece of history! Here's the one I used to own. Like you, I had always dreamed of owning one after seeing it in the Red Book as a kid.
That is a pretty example of what is, in my opinion, one of the most attractive coin designs of the 18th century. Notice the odd-looking '5' in the date - that is the old, or 'Spanish' style 5. It was eventually replaced with the traditional arabic style 5. Well done, Mat! nice example. I collect these too, but prefer the southern mints, Lima for example. Here is one I am very fond of.
