Hello, Is anyone able to identify mintmark S(little "o" below) IIII B . Year is 1597, so ruler Philip II. I have never seen this kind of Spanish colonial 4 reales mintmark before... What country is it and who is assayer ? Thanks in advance !
S = Seville Mint, Assayer B = Juan Vicente Bravo (1592-1612). Not sure if it is Philip II or III (I can't tell if OMNIVM is in the legend with shield on the side). Would've been struck in Seville, Spain.
Could it be 1592 perhaps? See SE-14 here: http://www.maravedis.net/felipe2_4_reales_sevilla.html Or similarly, see SE-12 through SE-18
I know these hand struck Real's are irregular in shape. I wonder if the squared edges would be evidence of clipping? Only reason I ask is that I appreciate when coins have a story to tell.
Excellent work Justin Lee ! Just off the top of my head, I was going to suggest Santiago, because the older the coin, the less experience I have.
I found this coin... I think it's not clipped, because the weight of this coin corresponds to the weight of the catalog data - 14 grams.
Wondering if the weight may have changed while these circulated? I was thinking it was clipped, too. In seeing other 4 reales in catalogs and auction listings, many are of this same "clipped" appearance... I couldn't imagine that a celator would design a coin die the size they did with the ruler's name in legend around and strike so many coins on flans that are too small to have much/any of the legend even appear.
Justin Bee, this is possible that they are few milligrams lightweighted, caused by circulation. But in general, they are made in such an irregular shape that the coin's weight is correct. When the silver blank was too coarse, the coin's weight went too big, and the piece was cut off to get the coin back to normal range.
As I'm no expert, please take this with the proverbial grain of salt, but the way these were made was to put a thick slug or flan of metal on an anvil die and then slam it with a die embedded in the hammer. The shape would always be irregular and most times split. How much of the die design ended up on the coin, and how thick the coin ended up being, depended a lot on how strong the guy swinging the hammer was and how hard he hit the flan, (and also how good his aim was). As for clipping, that was done mostly to silver and gold coins, which is why reeding the edges of coins was started. Considering the value of copper and bronze, even back then, there wasn't much reason to clip copper or bronze coins. However, silver and gold coins were not only clipped, but they were also shaved. It didn't take that much gold shavings to make the effort worthwhile. Yes, correcting the weight was another reason they were clipped.
I have eight reales too, I think it was shaved because It has smoother edges.. It was minted in Bolivia, Potosi. Mintmark - P B
At one time, the Spanish almost ruled the world. They searched, and found, gold and silver wherever it was to be found. They then started shipping it back to Spain. Eventually shipping large amounts of raw gold and silver was too much trouble so they started mints in many far flung places. A smelted, then minted gold coin was smaller and more valuable than a lump of raw gold. Following the history of Spanish coinage is a fascinating and educational way to spend some time. Along with English coinage and many others. The history of the World can be told in coins.
