COLOMBIA GOLD COB ESCUDO – 1708-1713 SCARCE DENOMINATION OF BOGOTA – MS62 PCGS GRADED WORLD COIN (Inv. 20754)

$6,000.00

20754. KINGDOM OF SPAIN. COLOMBIA. CHARLES II (CARLOS II) POSTHUMOUS EMISSION UNDER PHILIP V.
Gold Cob Escudo, ca. 1708–13, 3.34 g, 14 mm. Issue of Bogotá mint.
Fr–9; KM 13; Calicó Type 210.
Ex Stack’s Bowers, Summer 2022 Global Showcase Auction, lot 34385.
PCGS graded MS62. TOP POP, sole graded coin at PCGS, illustrated on the PCGS site.\

The small denomination of 1 escudo is scarce at Bogotá. There are only five others on CoinArchives of this denomination, including some that show transposed elements of the decoration. The assayer, the man responsible for striking the coin, was Buenaventura de Arce, whose name or initial is omitted on the gold cobs of this period struck with the name of Charles II under Philip V, a possibly intentional maneuver to cover up a secret wartime fineness reduction. Charles’ name, CAROLUS, is partially preserved on this coin. For a detailed study on Arce’s coinage see Daniel F. Sedwick, Arce’s Doubloons (2025).