Unfortunatley holed at 12 o'clock. I've owned him since 2000. 1776 1 Escudo, Popayan, Colombia Mintmark P, Assayer SF
I have seen any number of these coins before but always had difficulty, without being able to weigh them, determining if they were one escudo or 1/2 escudo coins. I have never minded holed coins in my collection, especially those from Latin America where the practice of piercing and wearing coins was a common one. The date, of course makes it one of historical significance.
I tend to make necklaces out of already holed coins, i feel like it adds more experience and sentiment to them. I hate seeing people hole and cut coins like this in modern day, especially when its just to make jewelry.
As Kevin has already pointed out, the date makes the coin of historical significance (1776, signing of Declaration of Independence). Maybe, just maybe, holing the coin could have been for celebrating the historical event ?
Do you mean holed after the signing? I doubt it, you gotta realize it was not celebrated as we do today because British soldiers were present in the colonies who were underpaid and highly corrupt and at this time the American Revolutionary War was almost in full swing, the final straw for the British would be the Declaration of Independence which would make you a target for wearing this maybe, "Are you a Militia member? You better come with me". Plus you were a wealthy person to have a gold coin like this so wearing it around made you a nice target for theives or even to be harassed by British or Militia soldiers.
Hi Blackbeard. For a pirate, your challenging views may hit the nail on the head. However, despite our clever theorising, to really get at a truthful answer, one might have to ask the driller about his, or her, motivation !!!
Here's a 1798 Colombian escudo I used to have on my onetime trademark "Holey Gold Hat". I never lamented the holes so much with that particular collection- they're a part of the coin's history, after all. And holes can make otherwise-tougher old gold like this much more affordable. To vaguely answer your question, I think yes, it should exceed bullion price by a little bit, though you've got to deduct some from the bullion weight for the hole. Generally speaking, a holed coin should trade at less than half the price of an unholed one (it really depends on what kind of coin and collector demand for that type). But old gold like this (and scarcer crown-sized pieces like Bust and Seated dollars, and thalers, among others), are some of the more popular coins that can still be popular despite a hole. They should be worth a minimum of spot price, in my opinion. The premium over spot are up to the buyer and/or seller. There are no hard and fast rules- a holed coin like this is worth whatever it will fetch at auction, usually, since a dealer is almost certainly going to offer less than melt for it. Keep it, enjoy it, and maybe wear it on a chain, like somebody else likely did a century or two ago. It's a nice piece of historical old gold with a special date for us Americans. It's an ex-jewelry coin and will thus always be an ex-jewelry piece, even if you attempted to have it repaired (which would be a waste of money in my opinion- enjoy it as it is). Here's the NGC/Krause priceguide listing for your coin (yet another page that is affected by one of their hilariously-stupid roboglitches in the VG prices- ignore that column).
Yes, there is certainly nothing wrong with that, when the damage was already done a century or more before. These coins can still be appealing, and remaking them into jewelry gives them a new lease on life. In my "holey" collection, I only collected coins with old holes, and never drilled my own! One time I did drill a crude, ugly plug out of this 1856-S quarter-eagle, though. The plug had been done with some kind of blackish metal- maybe oxidized silver, or even solder. It was hideous. Better an "honest holey" than a holed coin that was subjected to a crude and misguided "repair" attempt, I say. Since you're gonna have a "damaged" coin regardless, you might as well leave it the way it was historically- as jewelry. A plug is not going to help things.
Some years ago I bought a half escudo dated in the 1750's for $50. I was happy with the purchase and it fit into my collection. Other than the whole at 12 o'clock it was in actually nice condition. Once holed it may have served as somebody's "Mad Money".
