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Auction: 14006 - Ancient, British and Foreign Coins and Commemorative Medals
Lot: 1143

Mexico, Philip V (1700-46), 8-Reales, 1733 MF, Mexico City mint mark M.X, crowned shield dividing assayer's initials MF and value 8, dot above MF, rev. crowned globes between crowned pillars (Cal.739-RRR; KM.103; Y.591), cleaned, small metal flaw at a of hispan, good very fine, extremely rare

The mint mark M.X was used for Mexico City in 1733 only. There are three variations, the overdate 1733 over 32 with assayer's initial F (for Francisco de la Pena y Flores), and the regular date 1733, with F, and with two assayers' initials MF (when he was joined by Manuel de Léon). They are all extremely rare.

The Norweb collection, sold by Spink in conjunction with Christie's in Dallas in two auctions in May and November 1985, contained six 1733 8-Reales including all three varieties with M.X mintmark. Mrs Norweb's 1733 MF M.X (17 May 1985, lot 174) was graded good very fine and realised $17,600. Significantly, this was twice as much as the 1733 M.X with initial F only (lot 173), which was also graded good very fine and sold for $8,250.

The Alexander Patterson collection of Pillar Coinage, sold at Bonhams in London, 16-17 July 1996, contained eight 1733 8-Reales, and again included all three varieties with the M.X mintmark. Mr Patterson's 1733 MF, lot 10, was described as 'good very fine, and probably superior to the Norweb specimen.' It realised £14,300 ($22,165). Again this contrasts with the price realised for the 1733 F, lot 8 in the same sale, also graded good very fine, which sold for £7,920 ($11,710).

The other great collection of Mexican coins to be dispersed in the last thirty years, the Pablo Gerber Senior collection, was sold at Spink in New York in 1995 and 1996. There were four 1733 8-Reales in this collection, one with mint mark M.X, but Pablo Gerber's M.X was a 1733 F, and he did not have a 1733 MF, reinforcing the point made in the Norweb and Patterson sales that the 1733 MF is rarer than the 1733 F.

The Siegfried von Schuckmann collection of 8-Reales sold by Renaissance Auctions, 13 December 2001, contained a 1733 F, but again no 1733 MF.

Other 1733 M.X. 8-Reales have appeared at auction during the last decade. In the Goldberg 'Millenia Collection' a 1733 F graded NGC MS63 sold for $42,250. Sea salvage coins have appeared in Sedwick auctions, from the 'Coffin Patch' and the 'San Jose' sites of the 1733 Fleet. Again these have all been 1733 F.

Significantly, the Krause catalogue records the price for the 1733 F (quoting the Patterson example) but does not give a value for the 1733 MF.

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Estimate
£15,000 to £20,000