Amazing 8s -- Charles III Portrait 8 Reales 1772-1791
1784 Mexico City, rare FF

Owner Comments:

This coin is one of those special finds that is the exciting part about this hobby. The variety is scarce as it is the last appearance of the initials F.F. (assayers Francisco de la Peña and Francisco Arance Cobos) on the Mexico City 8 reales. The common variety of the 1784 feature the initials F.M. (for Francisco Arance y Cobos and Mariano Rodríguez). I had never seen this variety for sale and won it in the February 2012 Cayón Subastas, Madrid, Spain, Lot #839. It can take months to get coins from Cayón because they get official export licenses for each coin. Patience, however, is a part of this hobby too. I was rewarded when this coin got its XF-45 grade from NGC.