Colombia-Numismatics · Hacienda tokens
Una Mitad token, 1855
Una Mitad · A. M. de la Cuadra · 1855
A private token dated 1855. One side reads AM / DE. LA / CUADRA and the other UNA / MITAD / 1855. The initials stay as printed. This disc has no serial and no holder.
Catalog facts
- Reference
- Rulau Mag-5. Fonrobert 8263. Sweeny and Bernal, A2. No KM number.
- Year
- 1855, on the reverse.
- Value
- Una mitad. Half a cuartillo, one eighth of a real, in the reading of Sweeny and Bernal and of Sedwick.
- Metal
- Brass on Sweeny and Bernal type A2: 7.6 g and 28.0 mm for the type. A2a is bronze, 27.4 mm. This disc’s alloy was not tested, and this specimen was not weighed or measured.
- Place
- Rulau places it in Magdalena, and Noonans specifies Santa Marta. Sweeny and Bernal give no town. This disc names no city.
- Workshop
- Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, Connecticut, according to Sweeny and Bernal and to Sedwick. The disc carries no workshop mark.
- Condition
- Unslabbed, and no numerical grade. Dark patina, lighter lettering, scratches, and a toothed border that can still be read. These photographs do not fix a grade.
Obverse and reverse
The piece
This token is dated 1855. In the photograph the reverse is at left and reads UNA / MITAD / 1855. The obverse is at right and reads AM / DE. LA / CUADRA, with a point after DE. The border is toothed. No countermark and no hole are visible. In 1855 the state was the Republic of New Granada. James O. Sweeny and Enrique Bernal, in The MITAD Tokens of Latin America (TAMS Journal, vol. 31, no. 1 (2), February 1991), catalog the type as A2: AM/DE.LA/CUADRA // UNA/MITAD/1855, brass, 7.6 g, 28.0 mm. They give it as struck in Waterbury, Connecticut, by the Scovill Manufacturing Company. The attribution comes from the group of proofs Russell Rulau assembled and from letter-punch links with other mitad tokens. The article does not transcribe a Scovill order book for this commission. Variety A2a is another strike, in bronze, 7.6 g and 27.4 mm, which they take for a die trial. This disc stays with the brass type. This specimen’s weight, diameter, and edge were not measured. Type A2 stands outside the three mitad tokens with an ornamented edge, so the published edge of the type is plain. On these tokens, “mitad” is the denomination: half a cuartillo, one eighth of a real. The word “una” does not change the value. Sedwick publishes the same reading, half cuartillo, and the number Rulau-Mag-5 beside Fonrobert 8263. Sweeny and Bernal print F8263, the entry in the Fonrobert collection catalog compiled by Adolph Weyl (Berlin, 1878), and they leave the initials unexpanded. They also leave the issuer’s trade unnamed and assign no town: for them the place attributions in earlier catalogs are, in general, unreliable. Rulau does place it in Magdalena. Noonans lot 3192, of 30 September 2013, names inside a group “Santa Marta, Am de la Cuadra, brass Mitad, 1855 (Rulau 5).” Sedwick auction 27, lot 850, describes another example: NGC MS 62, certificate 5850277-003, Norweb provenance. This disc is loose, with a dark patina. No mintage is verified. The Banco de la República coin tables open in 1987 and do not cover this private token. The piece does not say how it was redeemed.
Scarcity
Sweeny and Bernal class type A2 as Common on their 1991 scale: more than nine pieces inside a sample of more than 600 mitad tokens. That class is not a mintage and not a census of this disc. A missing mintage figure does not establish extreme rarity. Certificate 5850277-003 belongs to another piece.
Sources
- James O. Sweeny and Enrique Bernal — The MITAD Tokens of Latin America (TAMS Journal, vol. 31, no. 1 (2), February 1991) (opens in a new tab)
Type A2: AM/DE.LA/CUADRA // UNA/MITAD/1855, brass, 7.6 g, 28.0 mm, Scovill. References Ekl098 and F8263. A2a is the bronze variety. The figures belong to the type. This record does not republish the plate.
- Sedwick & Associates, auction 27, lot 850 (27–29 May 2020), on NumisBids (opens in a new tab)
Another example: Magdalena, brass, half cuartillo, Scovill, Rulau-Mag-5, Fonrobert-8263, NGC MS 62, certificate 5850277-003, Norweb provenance. It went unsold. It is a different disc.
- Noonans Mayfair, 30 September 2013, Allan Vayle collection, lot 3192 (opens in a new tab)
A lot of several tokens. Among them: “MAGDALENA, Santa Marta, Am de la Cuadra, brass Mitad, 1855 (Rulau 5).” The lot result stays off this record.
- Banco de la República — production and circulation of notes and coins (opens in a new tab)
The coin tables open in 1987. They do not give a mintage for this private token of 1855.