How can i determine what year span this spanish half real cob is from?

[BeenFishin]

A friend of mine told me he "deep plowed" two portions of his field the other day. Today i took the day off and detected both. Mostly cans with small bits of random copper, lead, and iron scrap. Started off the second portion of the field and got half way through the first row and saw two other friends walking over to me. I kept detecting along the edge of the plowed field as they walked up and got a solid 74 signal on my mxt. This usually means a copper cent or a half real. I told my friends and unplugged my detector so they could hear it. Popped the plug up and moved in with my carrot. Lost it a couple times in the soft dirt and then found a spanish half real cob where i thought for sure a memorial pre 81' cent was going to be. My friends didnt get it. They were slightly amused by the possible age of the coin, but that was about where their interest stopped. Someone please help me figure out when this thing is from. I believe i see a 76 or a 56, or maybe its upsidedown. I dont know please help find the date. I took pics with my loupe. The 1901 barber dime is to compare sizes. Thanks for looking!

 

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[relic lover]

1656 comes to mind

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[CRUSADER]

1656 comes to mind

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yeap.

 

[pepperj]

Very nice indeed, congrats on the Cob!

 

[Mzjavert]

That will work.

 

[trapperart]

Very nice congrats on the old silver

 

[BeenFishin]

Thanks guys! I am seriously buggin out here. This is my first 1600s coin! im ok with this being the only valuable thing i dug up all of yesterday.

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[DownNDirty]

Call me crazy but that looks like 1556 to me. Probably not, but...

 

[Javadroid]

Looks like treasure to me!! What an awesome find - congrats mate!

 

[BeenFishin]

Call me crazy but that looks like 1556 to me. Probably not, but...

I kinda also see a possible 5 next to the other 5 too! It may just be the worn lines playing tricks on me but id love to know what some of the mint marks mean. Could narrow down the date if i knew which king was around or which mint it was from. Supposidly p would be a lima but i dont know that much and im bound to what i can find online, which isnt much and could be questionable. For now ill be perfectly content with 1656! Thanks everyone!

Edit: Honestly, I believe Crusader. Hes got the experience

 

[Slingshot]

Looks bigger than a 1/2 reale, more like a 1 reale since it is bigger than the dime. Whatever it is, it is definitely a very nice find!

 

[Scrappy]

Certainly a 1 reale. Nice looking one too. The date is 1656. I saw 1556 thrown around in here - A century earlier would have been Charles and Johanna silver coinage with a much different design. Congrats on a beauty, and welcome to the 17th century club.

 

[BeenFishin]

Words cannot explain how ecstatic i am, scrappy. Thanks so much for the info and the welcome into the 17th century club. I just found a decent example on newworldtreasures. Amazing that its a 1 real and not a 1/2! Ive gotten three 1/2s before but my first cob is also my first 1 real! Im seriously buggin right now hahaha

 

[Scrappy]

Words cannot explain how ecstatic i am, scrappy. Thanks so much for the info and the welcome into the 17th century club. I just found a decent example on newworldtreasures. Amazing that its a 1 real and not a 1/2! Ive gotten three 1/2s before but my first cob is also my first 1 real! Im seriously buggin right now hahaha

My first cob was a 1-real as well. They're certainly thick enough not to mistake for a 1/2 reale Cob. I've found both and have also held a few friends. Anyway, killer find. I can no longer hold my 1-real Cob - it's in a museum belonging to a very historic property I did work for.

 

[Mackaydon]

1656 1R Potosi mint.
Assayer: Antoinio de Ergueta during the period 1652-1678.
Don........

 

[BeenFishin]

Very nice of you to donate it to the property, now people can enjoy it for years to come. I may have an issue with this cob though. It weighs only 2.4 grams. Is it correct that a 1/2 is supposed to be 1.7 and a 1 real 3.3?

Edit: after further research (googling) it seems the weight of cobs fluctuates due to clipping or corrupt mint officials shorting the weight. Considering theres still most of the design i would lean more towards the corrupt mint official theory? Does any of this sound legit to you guys?

 

[DownNDirty]

Certainly a 1 reale. Nice looking one too. The date is 1656. I saw 1556 thrown around in here - A century earlier would have been Charles and Johanna silver coinage with a much different design. Congrats on a beauty, and welcome to the 17th century club.

1656 it is! Thanks Steve

 

[screwynewy]

Cobs are one of my favorite finds and of course 1600's coinage dug from US soil is too. Excellent find - you should be buggin' and ecstatic. Congratulations!

 

[Scrappy]

Very nice of you to donate it to the property, now people can enjoy it for years to come. I may have an issue with this cob though. It weighs only 2.4 grams. Is it correct that a 1/2 is supposed to be 1.7 and a 1 real 3.3?

Edit: after further research (googling) it seems the weight of cobs fluctuates due to clipping or corrupt mint officials shorting the weight. Considering theres still most of the design i would lean more towards the corrupt mint official theory? Does any of this sound legit to you guys?

Sounds legit. Shaving and clipping were very common, and likely your Cob lost a bit of weight. That's why, and when, milled coinage began to appear in many countries.