Colombia-Numismatics · colonial Santa Fe
1 escudo coin, 1795
1 escudo · Bogotá NR–JJ · 1795
An 1795 gold escudo struck at Santa Fe de Nuevo Reino (Bogotá) in the name of Charles IV. The obverse carries the bust and the date; the reverse, the value 1 S and the marks NR · JJ.
Catalog facts
- Reference
- KM# 56.1 · Restrepo 84.8 · Calicó 1201 · Hernández 687 · Fr#58 · Numista N#52837
- Year
- 1795
- Metal
- Gold .875 (type specification)
- Mint
- Santa Fe de Nuevo Reino, Bogotá (NR)
- Condition
- Unslabbed; no grade assigned. Heavily worn portrait and a clearer reverse; yellow surface with darker recesses, scratches, and marks; slightly irregular disc. Date 1795, 1 S, and NR–JJ readable. Photographs do not authenticate the disc (private collection)
Obverse
Reverse
The piece
In 1795 the Santa Fe de Nuevo Reino mint, at Bogotá, was striking milled gold in the name of Charles IV. This disc shows the date 1795 under the portrait, the value 1 S, and, on either side of the fleece, mintmark NR for Nuevo Reino and the assayer initials JJ. That is type KM# 56.1 — Restrepo 84.8, Calicó 1201, Hernández 687, Friedberg 58 — not Popayán’s KM# 56.2 with marks P–JF, which the 1800, 1801, 1806, and 1808 records document. Normalized obverse legend: CAROL · IIII · D · G · HISP · ET IND · R · 1795 (IIII, not IV); it expands to Carolus IIII Dei Gratia Hispaniarum et Indiarum Rex: “Charles IV, by the grace of God, king of the Spains and the Indies.” Reverse: IN · UTROQ · FELIX · A · D ·, for In utroque felix, auspice Deo. The 1 at left and S at right mark one escudo, not 15. Numista groups both mints of the type under N#52837 (NR as KM# 56.1, P as KM# 56.2) and lists the 1795 NR–JJ as Hernández 687; the 2023 8th edition of Hernández gathers under that code the NR–JJ pieces with Charles IV’s own legend and bust. Gold .875, a type weight of about 3.38 g, and a module of 19 mm are Numista figures: this disc was not weighed or measured. Numista gives the type a reeded edge and medal alignment; these photographs do not show the edge and do not fix this disc’s axis. No mintage is verified: Numista publishes no figure for any year, and BanRep’s coin tables begin in 1987. Unslabbed; photographs do not authenticate the metal. It is not Bogotá’s 1810 silver real, nor the Popayán escudos in this collection.
Scarcity
Numista covers type KM# 56.1 (N#52837) and lists the 1795 NR–JJ as Hernández 687, with no photo, no value, and no mintage. A Sedwick lot of the same date and assayer describes a PCGS VF30 example as the finest and only one in the PCGS census, with none at NGC when catalogued; that is a two-grader census, not a survivor count. This record does not invent a census or publish prices.
Sources
- Numista — 1 escudo, Charles IV, Colombia (N#52837) (opens in a new tab)
KM# 56.1 for the NR mint; 1795 NR–JJ is listed as Hernández 687. Type gold .875, about 3.38 g, and 19 mm. No mintage and no value are cited here.
- Hernández — Monedas y billetes de Colombia, 8th ed. 2023 (Numista L100183) (opens in a new tab)
Numista assigns Cód. 687 to the Charles IV NR–JJ of this type. Price columns from that edition are not copied, and no mintage is read from them.
- Sedwick — Bogotá 1 escudo, Charles IV, 1795 JJ (PCGS VF30) (opens in a new tab)
KM-56.1, Restrepo 84.8, Calicó 1201, and Friedberg 58. Auction comparable; not this specimen, and prices are not published. Numista lists Fr 59 and 65 for the whole type.
Related pieces
Other records from the same issuer or era in this case.
