Fantasy Oaxaca Insurgency Issue
Ex Eliasberg, Clapp, Newcomer, & Williams

Triton XIX, Lot: 2595. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MEXICO, Guerra de Independencia. Oaxaca. Insurgent. Cast AV Fantasy 2 Reales (22mm, 7.46 g, 12h). Dated 181[3]. Morelos monogram over · 2 · R ·; 181[3] below; c/m: lattice of 16 squares / Bow and arrow; · SUD · below; five-petalled flower. Harry F. Williams, “The Gold Coinage of Latin America,” in AJN 48 (1914), pl. X, 1 = Pradeau, Numismatic History of Mexico, p. 108-110 and pl. XIV, 3 (this coin illustrated); BW –; Grove –; KM –; Friedberg –. Good VF, lightly chased. With NGC Photocertificate stating Questionable Authenticity. Extremely rare. LOT SOLD AS IS, NO RETURNS.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams. Ex Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. Collection (American Numismatic Rarities, 18-19 April 2005), lot 3229; John M. Clapp Collection; Waldo Newcomer Collection (J.C. Morgenthau & Co., 12 February 1935), lot 416; Harry F. Williams Collection.

Insurgents in the Oaxaca region, led by General José María Morelos, were responsible for one of the most common and poorly studied coinages of the War of Independence. Though they initially attempted to strike silver coinage, the insurgents, cut off from from the established coining facilities and supplies of silver, soon resorted to casting and striking their money in bronze. Silver issues are generally scarce from this series. Gold coins, such as those here, are extremely rare and the subject of some scholarly suspicion. 

Pradeau suggests that at least some of these rare gold pieces are authentic. In support of this claim, he notes two citations to gold coinage that appear in contemporary literature. In one, an example of the new gold and silver pieces were sent to a female sympathizer and secret agent in Mexico City. In the other, royalist forces uncovered a cache containing not only silver pieces, but also twenty-nine gold pieces, mostly one reales. With regards to lot ____, Pradeau states that the coin is “undoubtedly genuine” (p. 110, note 1). 

Yet, for gold coinage to appear in an area that is starved even of silver is quite unexpected and strongly suggestive of a modern fantasy. Grove states that the 8 Reales were made for collectors. Likewise, NGC errs on the side of caution, and gives these two pieces a grade of “questionable authenticity.” The coins are offered here with both arguments presented, so that the bidder may decide for himself.