Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you call a thing, but sometimes it does.
We call some of the most valuable Spanish colonial cobs Royals, but what does that mean and where did the term come from?
It isn't the first or only article that discusses those questions, but I just found a very good article on the subject in the Numismatics International bulletin.
The Royal Misnomer for Spanish American Cobs Herman Blanton, Including Supplement on Galanos by Glenn Murray was published in Vol. 53, Nos. 9/10 September/October 2018. Among other things, the article provides a "loose and non-exhaustive" chronology of terms used to describe what we now call Royals.As early as the 1930s, in at least one auction catalog, unusually round cobs were distinguished from ordinary cobs by their exceptional roundness. It seems they were noted as extraordinary primarily because of their shape. Eventually, cobs like that were referred to as rounds.
Roundness is one distinguishing characteristic of a royal, but a particularly round flan would not seem to be enough to refer to a coin as a royal if the other characteristics were missing. If an example was more round than common but showed a very poor or haphazard striking, would it qualify as a royal? I don't think so. There may or may not be examples on perfect round flans but otherwise being constructed haphazardly. If so, I suppose it would be rare.
There are other features that are expected of royals in addition to roundness. Besides a perfectly round blank, I'd expect the flan to be flat, have a diameter sized to the die, be of the correct thickness and weight, having the two sides correctly aligned, and being precisely and perfectly struck with beautiful die.
In the early 1950s the term imperial was used to describe special strikings authorized by Charles V. The term did not indicate coins of special quality, just that they were authorized by the King.
The first public offering of 1715 Fleet coins was in a 1964 Christensen auction. The term royal was not used in the auction catalog but there was speculation that the perfect coins were specimens and the term specimen strike became a common designation.
In his 1966 book, Pieces of Eight. Recovering the Riches of a Lost Spanish Treasure Fleet, Kip Wagner often referred to imperials, but on page 215 provided this statement, "Included in these are a few, very rare coins called “imperials” or “royals,” specially struck and in perfect condition." That seems to the first use of the term Royal to describe what, up until that time, had been referred to by various terms.
You will find more interesting details in the Numismatics International publication. Here is the link.
Royal Misnomer from Numismatics International Bulletin September October 2018 (macuquina.com)
You might also want to read Augie Garcia's articles or royals. Here are a couple of those links.
sedwick_catalog_28_light.pdf (sedwickcoins.com)
Microsoft Word - royals (sedwickcoins.com)
Occasionally I see royals that I don't think should be called royals, but I'm no expert on the subject and would gladly receive any corrections or additions to this post.
I skipped a lot in the NI article that I think you will want to read for yourself.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com |
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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net