Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Illustration of 1714 Mexico Two-Escudo . Source: Sewall Menzel's Book, Cob's, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins. |
The two-escudo from the Menzel book shown above looks very much like the one found by Grant that I showed yesterday.
The one found by Grant does not show the date or mint or assayer mark, however it does show some clues to those things. It does show the denomination in roman numerals to the right of the shield.
The escudo I showed yesterday, like the one shown in the illustration above, seems to be a Mexico two-escudo, probably from 1714. It is also similar to the one posted in my 5/24/16 post.
One of the biggest clues to the cob's date is the Bourbon crest which covers the lower-right castle and pomegranate. I outlined the shield of Bourbon in the illustration below.
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| Shield of Bourbon Highlighted on Two-Escudo. |
Here are a few interesting observations relative to such escudos.
In 1977, Bowers and Ruddy sold a very similar one for $250. That was about the going rate back then. The dollar was worth about four times more in 1977, so you might expect the value of a similar two-escudo today to be worth about $1000 if you just made a simple adjustment for inflation. Of course, there are other factors that affect the market value.
I've seen similar two escudos running for just over $1000. A similar two-escudo having the mint mark and date in excellent condition might be more like $2500 or $3500. I'm just talking in very general terms. You could look through Sedwick auction results and find a very comparable escudo for price comparison. I didn't do that.
The melt value of the escudo, with today's gold prices, would be about $245, close to what the Bowers and Ruddy cob sold from in 1977 when the price of gold was just over $160 per ounce.
I'm not expert on cobs, so if anything I said here is wrong, let me know.
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| Source: See reuters link below. |
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A sacrificial wolf elaborately adorned with some of the finest Aztec gold ever found and buried more than five centuries ago has come to light in the heart of downtown Mexico City, once home to the Aztec empire's holiest shrines...
Here is the link.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-archaeology-aztecs-idUSKBN19S1RA?feedType=RSS&virtualBrandChannel=11563
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There are no tropical depressions or storms in the Atlantic or Gulf. We got the remains of old Tropical Depression Four yesterday, which resulted in a day of rain and some lightning.
The surf today on the Treasure Coast will be about two to four feet, and tomorrow, two to three feet.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
