Owner Comments:
In our beloved section “Coins you have never seen before (and likely you will never see again)” I present you this exceedingly rare 4 escudos from the Guanajuato mint dated 1856. This is the coin featured in CoinFacts Wiki. How rare you wonder? Well, according to Richard Long in his book on Mexican Republic gold, it is extremely rare (not even a sale chart is included with the issue!). In fact, this very coin, according to Long, is the only specimen offered for sale during the period 1994-2001 (Ponterio and Associates). Offered by Goldberg in 2014 (“Mexico. 4 Escudos, 1856-Go PF. Hand on book. Listed as Extremely Rare in the Richard Long book. Natural edge flaw. NGC graded VF-20.") and then by Stack’s Bowers (“This is a truly rare 4 Escudos from the Guanajuato mint. The 1856 date is missing from Gerber, Eliasberg, and Norweb collections. Small edge flaw at 3:00 noted”). And yes, you read correctly, this issue is missed in the Norweb, Eliasberg, and Gerber collections. When people ask me if I like more conditional rarities or absolute rarities, this is my answer! Yes, it has a flan flaw, but when you are talking of these rarities, that is as good as it gets.
Provenance:
Ponterio and Associates 1994, 1997, and 2001
Goldberg 2015
Steinbergs Gold
Stack’s Bowers 2020
From the sale’s catalogue: “KM-381.4. This is a truly rare 4 Escudos from the Guanajuato mint. The 1856 date is missing from Gerber, Eliasberg, and Norweb collections. Small edge flaw at 3:00 noted”.