*West Indies / U.S.A., Regulated Coinage: A Popayán mint 8 escudos of Charles III, 1778 sf, with a gold plug applied to the reverse above shield to raise the weight and with a corresponding countermark on the obverse of the number ‘16’ in an oval frame, 27.97g, good very fine, interesting and rare but offered strictly as viewed, not subject to return; together with original collector’s ticket and copied excerpts from Hans Schulman’s 1955 auction catalogue [see footnote] Ex O.K Rumbel Collection, Hans Schulman Auction, New York, 18 March 1955 (lot 10), where the coin was additionally provenanced to the Colonel Green Collection and stated to have been found ‘along the coast of Georgia in a clay pot. Probably pirate loot’. Estimated at $300, it was apparently purchased by the British dealer Geoffrey Hearn for $200, who sold it to a U.K. collector in July, 1955 for £75; thence by descent. Whilst the host coin is undoubtedly genuine, the credentials and date of application of the gold plug raising the weight, and of the ‘16’ countermark itself, are by no means established. Schulman described the piece as ‘16 scudos’ and as being ‘unpublished’ in 1955, while its provenance to Colonel Green has not, to date, been independently verified. The regulated weight (though not the overall gold fineness) of the coin would have been equivalent to $16 U.S. in the late 18th Century, a point noted in popular numismatic publications of the 1980s where these and related pieces were discussed. Several similar regulated coins are known but it is believed that none has a provenance securely traceable to a date before this one, in 1955. It remains something of an enigma.

Estimate: GBP 4000 - 6000