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Bogota, Colombia, cob 2 escudos, 1702 in upside-down digits preceded by assayer V.A., king's name as

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Cobs - Gold Start Price:3,000.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
Bogota, Colombia, cob 2 escudos, 1702 in upside-down digits preceded by assayer V.A., king's name as
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Bogota, Colombia, cob 2 escudos, 1702 in upside-down digits preceded by assayer V.A., king's name as PHILIPVS over CAROLOS [sic] on obverse and PHILIPVS on reverse, extremely rare, NGC MS 62, ex-1715 Fleet. Restrepo-M79.1 (var); S-B24; KM-unl (14.2 for type); Cal-1934 (under Ph. V). 6.70 grams. This crazy coin is important for defining the chaotic transitional period of 1700-2, in which Philip's name was at first combined with that of the deceased Charles and then replaced it, before the coins inexplicably returned to just Charles in 1703. Part of this transitional chaos was a tendency to engrave parts of the legend in backwards order or reading outward, or both, as in the case of the date on this coin, which actually reads as "2071" inward from edge. Also visible in the cross-side legend is assayer V.A before the date (presumably for Ventura de Arce), plus a clear PHIL of the king's name, and on the shield side we see just enough of the legend to make out what has to be (from other examples) PHILIPVS punched over CAROLOS, a misspelling unique to 1700-2. The shield and cross-and-tressure are complete, bold, and well detailed, albeit doubled (the cross more so than the shield), and a lovely red toning graces the surfaces all over. NGC #5967830-001 (1715 Fleet Shipwreck Label). From the 1715 Fleet.