I have in my collection a coin ( see attachmnt ) a , the kings name being spelt " Farolus " and on the reverse an annulet above the M of the Lima mint mark. The coin appears to be genuine with weight and silver, but so different from the norm as to be true. I would appreciate any information on this coin.
Howdy Dick - Welcome to the Forum !! This coin you have pictured - I'm afraid it's a counterfeit. I know you didn't want to hear that - nobody ever does. But I'll explain so that you & others may know what to look for in the future. Let's deal with the pellet over the L in the mint mark first. This mint mark was put into use by the Lima mint in 1758. It followed a rebuilding of the mint. New mint mark punches were sent from Spain but they were so rusty and deteriorated when they arrived that new punches were made locally. Since the coin dies were also often manufactured locally there are often variances in the design. And because of the mint mark being so colse to the base of the left pillar there sometimes would not be room for the pellet on the 8 & 4 reale coins. In these cases the pellet was omitted. In the begining this pellet was present on all 4 & 8 relae coins. But by 1758 the prcatice of omitting the pellet on 4 reale coins had taken hold and by 1761 coins that did have the pellet became quite rare. With 8 reales, coins with and without the pellet exist from 1760 on. But by 1766 coins with the pellet also become quite rare. There are many small mistakes that were made in the lettering and the design of the coin. But perhaps one of the most glaring mistakes they made is the mint mark on the right. In the LM the M has a small o above it. Only the coins made in Mexico City have this mark. Now as for the misspelling - misspellings do exist on some of the columnarios. But they are exceedingly rare. The only case of misspelling the King's name that I am aware of occured on a 2 reale of Mexico City in 1739 when an I replaced the first P in Philip. Then we have the assayers' marks. The assayers for Lima from 1755- 1787 were Jose Rodriguez Carasa & Manuel Iglesias Abarca - thus the initials JM appear on all coins from this period. Your coin very plainly has an IM. Now what I would say is this - somebody who was rather good at producing coins, for the coin does appear to be very well made in most respects - but was not truly knowledgeable about them - made this coin with the intention of convincing someone that it was a true rarity and selling it to them. I do hope that person was not you.
reply Many thanks GDJMSP Well actually the coin belongs to my father, and he ask me to ask about and see if it's worth anything, he bought the coin (as a coin) and for what it was, unknown at this point about the errors in the kings name although he did think it was unusual. When he got home to research the coin he found that the coin was not listed anywhere and not classified, hence this is why he got me to ask about. Fortunatly he only paid £80.00 sterling, and i think this is about the going rate for such a coin. Thank you again for your help on this matter.
Dick - You are more than welcome I am sorry that your father lost what he did - but grateful it was no more. Please be sure to tell him - that if he ever has questions about columnarios - to try to ask them before he purchases the coin. I am here every day and you or he can also feel free to contact me by email if you wish. I also might suggest that if your father has an interest in these coin that he purchase a copy of The Milled Columnarios of Central & South America by Frank F. Gilboy. The book itself is rather rare as there were only 500 copies ever printed. But copies can sometimes be found on ebay for $60 to $75. They are worth every penny ! This is the quintessential book for columnarios struck from 1732 to 1771.
