Emperor Charles and Queen Johanna (Chuck and Juanita's) coinage Abuelo's Collection

Owner Comments:

This coin belongs to the favourite section “Coins you have never seen before, coins you are not likely to see ever again”. From the famous collection by Manuel Vidal Quadras y Ramón (lot 6881 Vol II page 180 plate 26-6). Coins from the Early Series of the Charles and Johanna series for Mexico City are all rare, particularly lower denominations as the 4 reales were minted in larger numbers to ship to Spain. Assayer F is perhaps the rarest of all assayers during in the series. His name and tenure dates are unknown. Cori Sedwick Downing, in her paper “The Charles and Joanna Coinage of Mexico City, 1536-1571: A Research Study on the Early Series and Introduction to the Late Series” (unknown to me the date of publication) wrote that Assayer F minted ½, 1, 2, and 4 reales. “There are approximately 26 coins known in collections and auctions, with the majority from the “Golden Fleece wreck” (ca. 1550), one from the “Ines de Soto wreck” (ca. 1557), and none from the Spanish 1554 Fleet (Padre Island)”. She describes the main type of 1-real coins: Latin M-F flanking shield and left-leaning rhomboid banner between pillars. In her paper “An Overview of Charles and Johanna Coinage from Mexico City Mint” (USMexNA Journal 2017) she wrote ”I have cataloged only 36 Assayer F coins, in all denominations”. As we can see, there were few more coins described between both papers. Kent Ponterio in his paper “The Coinage of Mexico Struck During the Reign of Charles and Johanna” (revised June 2009) he stated that Assayer F is the third assayer of the Early Series. “Coins of this assayer are anywhere from extremely rare to unique” and suggests he was an interim assayer sometime in 1540 or 1541. He suggests 3 possible candidates: Francisco de Loaysa, Esteban Franco (also favoured by Ms Downing), or less likely, Francisco Rodriguez (from the Santo Domingo mint).

At the time of purchase (December 2020) it is the only real graded by NGC for the assayer and type, therefore Top Pop.