1895-PG V. PCGS MS61. This was not an inexpensive coin. But all Puerto Rican coins are scarce, and the peso in Mint State is particularly nice to have. https://www.pcgs.com/cert/47000056 Perhaps @paddyman98 will appreciate this one.
Nice one! Thanks for sharing! This is what I have.. 20C I might take my metal detector to Puerto Rico in August so maybe I can detect one for myself
Very nice M'Lord, minted in Madrid, Spain. Better to file it as Alfonso XIII rather than Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena.
I’m not sure there is one? I think those “PG V” letters are mintmaster initials? Hmm. Let me look up the peso on Numista to see what information is there. Edit- nope. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces17449.html Doesn’t shed light on the “PG V”, but it does contain some other info. The mint was Madrid, as @expat mentioned. I see Numista says $2,700 in UNC! I’m into this PCGS MS61 for $1,500.
@Heavymetal - that was a nice junkbox cherrypick! Back in the early 2000s I spotted a cigar box lot of coins on eBay. In the sub-optimal photo it appeared to have a gold half sovereign peeking out. The bidding got too steep for me (though still modest), so I showed the lot to the dealer I was helping out at the time. He decided to take a gamble on it, bid, and won the lot. The "half sovereign" turned out to be fake- merely a gold plated jewelry charm. BUT the lot was chock full of Puerto Rico and other goodies! No peso, but every other denom, some high grade- plus some duplicates and a ton of other World goodies. He sent all the PR stuff off to ANACS (this was in the old small holder days). He ended up making thousands on that box lot that I had spotted and was too poor to risk <$100 on.
A very nice coin. I was looking for one (P.R. 5 Pesetas) and a friend of mine had a high grade one. Unfortunately, he took his whole collection to a local coin shop and dumped everything there. He was an older gentleman and sometimes these guys just want to be rid of stuff they've been collecting for decades. My understanding is that these were declared illegal to own by the Spanish Government or something. Do you know any more?
I read somewhere in the past that it was the Venezuelan and Mexican silver causing problems. People were exporting the 1 Peso and exchanging them for a profit and causing a coinage crisis. The Spanish government then decreed that the coins produced in Madrid would be countermarked with 27 Fleur de Lys on the edge for use only in Puerto Rico and would not be accepted anywhere else, putting a halt to profiteering.
Real Casa de Moneda, the mintmark when used is an M with a crown above. The Spanish description of where money is produced is Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre, or FNMT for short.
Well done, Rob. That’s one of those, “If I could only have one coin from (PLACE NAME) this would be it” kind of coins.
