Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
 |
| 2-Escudos From Nieves Site. From ABC Video Linked Yesterday |
The two-escudos does not show the wealth of information shown by the eight-escudos. For one thing, being smaller, the two does not show the legend that would in some cases appear around the edge of the cob.
I also can not relocate the photo of the other side of the two. I do recall that it was a shield variety. Maybe I'll relocate that image and be able to say more.
Even if I can not narrow this down as precisely as the eight-escudo that I talked about yesterday, taking a look will still be somewhat entertaining and perhaps informative.
A quick scan of Modedas Espanolas desde Juana y Carlos a Isabell II 1504 a 1868 by Calico, Calico and Trigo shows that two-escudos of near the same date were minted at the following Spanish mints.
Barcelona, Granada, Madrid, Mallorca, Segovia, Sevilla, Cuzco, Lima, Mexico and Sante Fe. Of those, I think we can pretty much eliminate all but Lima, Santa Fe, and Mexico. And of those three, the mint that produced the design most similar to the two-escudo shown above is Santa Fe mint.
Forgive me if I sometimes use the Spanish spelling and sometimes the English.
Cuzco only produced a few one and two-escudos during the year 1698.
Cartegena only produced escudos before 1655, and the design of those that I've seen look different than the found 2-escudo.
Escudos produced by the Lima mint around the period of the presumed date were of the Pillars and Waves variety.
While I do not know for sure that this cob was minted during the reign of Carlos II, it would be in my opinion the most reasonable assumption. There are also design features that to me seem to support that assumption.
If you can show me otherwise, please do so. I haven't been able to get much more information than shown on this side of the two escudo and my vague recollection of seeing the other side.
The two-escudos shown below is a 1712 example from the Sante Fe mint found in Sewall Menzel's book Cobs, Pierces of Eight and Treasure Coins.
 |
| 1712 Two-Escudos from the Sante Fe mint.From Sewall Menzel's book.
I am no authority, but it is my opinion that this 2-escudo is very similar to that recently found. As you'll recall from yesterdays post, the eight-escudo that I looked at was dated 1711. If the recently found cob is of a similar date, it would be very much like this example, which is dated 1712.
Note the four half circles surrounding the cross and the circles and flourishes that would be at approximately the ten, two, four, and eight o'clock positions relative to the cross. That at the 10 o'clock is apparent on this example, while that at the seven o'clock position is most apparent on the recently found cob.
The Menzel example shows the top part of the shield on the other side of the cob. The example and recently found cob both show a similar part of the shield.
On the Menzel example above you see the date, but you can not see the date above the cross on the found cob.
Below is another example of a Sante Fe minted 2-escudo, but this one is an older cob. The cross side looks different from the escudos shown above. Notice how much smaller the circles and flourishes are. This example also shows more of the legend on one side and also shows a mint mark and denomination on the shield side.
|
 |
| 1622 2-escudos from the Santa Fe mint. From Sewall Menzel's book. |
My only conclusion so far concerning the recently found two-escudo shown at the top of the post is that it is from the Sante Fe mint and probably from an early 1700 date. If you can correct me, please do.
That was a little technical, but I hope somewhat informative.
Dan B. has been finding a lot of shark teeth in shell piles. He also found the following. What do you think the two fossils are?
 |
| Fossils. Finds and photo by Dan B. |
 |
| National Hurricane Center Map. |
The tropics are lighting up. The orange area in the Gulf has about a 50% chance of becoming a cyclone.
Gabrielle is a named storm. Earlier Gabrielle was predicted to head towards Bermuda. I think she might fizzle out.
And you see two other areas that have a chance of forming in the Atlantic.
At this time, I don't see any immediate impact to beach detecting conditions for the Treasure Coast. Maybe in a few days, but I don't think so.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
