Was described as unidentifiable date on ebay with not so great photos, ended up being a bargain. The top of the 5 can be seen just above the hole. Sorry for not so sharp cellphone pics Oddly enough I had a similar score on an 1844 GC-MP 8 reales a few years back, also holed. But in that case only the reverse was pictured and I got the coin for melt.
Nope, this one cost me several times melt, but still no more than half of what it would cost otherwise. Was a worthwhile gamble
Coincidentally, I just got the specialized reference for this series and was hoping for a chance to take it for a spin. I agree with your initial assessment - an 1845 issue of the Guadalupe y Calvo mint, Manuel Onofre Parodi, assayer. The mint produced three major varieties this year, determined by the shape of the cap and the tail feathers of the eagle, yours being in the middle with regards to scarcity. Reference: Dunigan & Parker GC02. This mint was operated by a British firm, Mackintosh & Co., and only struck 8 coins between 1844 and 1852.
Thanks for the input. I had actually posted on another forum regarding variety attribution. I'm pretty sure it's a pointy cap obverse, but can't figure out the eagle's tail type. Based on pictures of both types for this year and 1846, there seems to be overlap in that both round and square tailed varieties can look very similar. I assume mine is square, but not sure.
Scarcity, Guadalupe Y Calvo is the second rarest mint for Cap and Rays 8 reales after the Estado de Mexico (Eo) mint. If it were not holed, it would easily be a $500+ coin.
Yours is the pointy cap/rounded tail type, the second style. The first is rounded cap/square tail. Mules of the rounded cap/rounded tail or visa versa are the scarcest issues of this year.
Thanks! My copy of Resplandores is out on sort of a long term loan, so I was flying half blind on this one.
