Set Description
The “Standing Indian” gold set is a very popular set. This is the first set minted by the Republic of Costa Rica during the Administration of the first President, José María Castro Madriz on August 1848. During this administration, Costa Rica was proclaimed an independent republic and the name of the country was changed from “Estado” (State) to “República” (Republic) of Costa Rica. This ended any possibility of going back to the Central American Federal Republic.
As stated by Manuel Chacón in his book “Del Real al Colón, the History of Money in Costa Rica (2006), as part of the new symbols adopted for the Republic of Costa Rica, the Government decreed the creation of a flag and shield, which were later engraved on its coins. In 1849 and 1850 silver and gold coins were still minted with the symbols of the Central American Federation, due to the need to provide the economy with currency for transactions while the dies were being prepared for producing coins with the new engravings.
For the recently founded Republic, as of 1850, half escudo, one escudo, two escudos and half-ounce coins were minted with the new national shield engraved on the obverse, without the war trophies, and the phrase “República de Costa Rica”. The reverse was engraved with the figure of an Indian maiden, or as she is popularly known “the Standing Indian”, supporting herself on a pedestal with the date of the Independence of Costa Rica. There are patterns in white metal for the one-ounce coins, two escudos and one escudo, but these were never minted for circulation. All the coins for circulation were minted in the San Jose Mint and have the initials “J.B.” for the Assayer “Juan Barth” or “G.W.” for the German Assayer Guillermo Witting, both of whom ended being Administrators of the San José Mint. The set spans the years from 1850 to 1864. The weight of these coins is the following: ½ Escudo (1.60 grams), 1 Escudo (3.10 grams), 2 Escudos (6.30 grams) and ½ Onza (12.60 grams).
As of November 2017, over 320 coins of this set have been slabbed by NGC with the four different denominations. It is important to note that even though the Krause Catalog indicates the existence of a “1/2 Escudo 1853”, it has yet to be seen. None of the best collections known to this collector, including the collection of the Central Bank of Costa Rica, nor any collection that has been publicly auctioned have had this coin. Most likely the coins minted in this year, were minted with dies of prior years (1850 and 1851).
As for this specific set of coins that appear in this NGC Registry, many of them are either the finest known specimens or second finest known. Among the highlights of this set are the “1/2 Escudo 1851 MS 65”, which is the highest grade for any denomination, “1/2 Escudo 1855 JB MS 64”, “1 Escudo 1850 MS 63” and “1 Escudo 1851 MS 64.” Also, a highlight is the “1/2 Onza 1850 AU 55”, even if this coin is not among the highest grades, the details are very sharp and the reverse has no signs of the usual weakness of a strike in the centers.
All the coins of this complete set have the Photo Vision service, which is a service of high quality images provided by NGC.
This set has seven specimens from the collection that has been known to be the greatest Costa Rican collection ever assembled, the Richard Stuart Collection (October 2016). There are various coins in this set that are the best graded coins for their respective denomination and year according to the NGC Census.
Piefort
