1 escudo coin, 1802

The piece

In 1802 the Santa Fe de Nuevo Reino mint, at Bogotá, was striking milled gold in the name of Charles IV. This disc shows the date 1802 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 — Hernández 687, Friedberg 58 — not Popayán’s KM# 56.2 with marks P–JF. The 1795 NR–JJ of this mint is another record; the 1811 NR–JF already carries Ferdinand VII’s legend (KM# 64.1). Normalized obverse legend: CAROL · IIII · D · G · HISP · ET IND · R · 1802 (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 1802 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 — Numista gives 3.3834 g — and a module of 19 mm are catalogue 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. CoinVarieties documents an 1802/1 NR–JJ (Restrepo 84.21, Cayón 14098) on another specimen; these photographs do not settle whether the last digit is a plain 2 or a 2 over 1, and this record does not assign that variety. No mintage is verified: CoinVarieties leaves the striking unstated, Numista publishes none for this year, and BanRep’s coin tables begin in 1987. Unslabbed; photographs do not authenticate the metal.

Scarcity

Numista covers type KM# 56.1 (N#52837) and lists the 1802 NR–JJ as Hernández 687, without a mintage. CoinVarieties documents the NR–JJ date and assayer as KM 56.1 and Friedberg 58, and leaves the striking unstated; the specimen it illustrates is an 1802/1 (Restrepo 84.21, Cayón 14098), not this disc. That page calls the type common within Charles IV gold; that is neither a survivor census nor a mintage for this year. This record does not invent a census or publish prices.

Related pieces

Other records from the same issuer or era in this case.

• 1 escudo · Popayán P–JF · 1806
• 1 escudo · Popayán P–JF · 1801
• 1 escudo · Popayán P–JF · 1808
• 1 escudo · Popayán P–JF · 1800