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Important 1817-Dated Texas Jola Rarity Viceroyalty of New Spain-Texas. 1817 Half Real or Jola. Coppe

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:10.00 USD Estimated At:NA
Important 1817-Dated Texas Jola Rarity Viceroyalty of New Spain-Texas. 1817 Half Real or Jola. Coppe
SOLD
28,000.00USDto c******2+ buyer's premium (5,600.00)
This item SOLD at 2018 Mar 21 @ 15:29UTC-6 : CST/MDT
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Important 1817-Dated Texas Jola Rarity Viceroyalty of New Spain-Texas. 1817 Half Real or Jola. Copper. Breen-Unlisted, Whitman-Unlisted. Fine-12 PCGS. 15.0 mm x 16.1 mm. A great rarity that has long existed by paper decree, but which finally came to light for the first time in public print in May, 2011, in The Numismatist; the information was previously published in a 2009 book titled The Paper Republic: The Struggle for Money, Credit, and Independence in the Republic of Texas, by author James Bevill. Unlisted in Breen (1988), though he wrote at that time “In 1817 Governor Martinez of the Presidio (Fort) of San Fernando de Bexar (later San Antonio), Texas authorized one Manuel Barrera, merchant and jeweler, to coin 8,000 jolas to pass current at ½ real apiece. No specimen of this issue has survived.”
The Whitman reference (2009) makes no note at all of the 1817 issue. Breen’s account jibes with that of Dr. George W. Vogt, whose April 23, 1980 Coin World article seems to be the source of Breen’s conjecture eight years later, though he mentions the article but does not quote directly from it. The book by Bevill, however, cites a printed document from March 29, 1817, in which acting governor Manuel Prado had a notice printed that read “Our neighbor Dom Manuel Barrera having petitioned to this government the milling of fifteen hundred pesos in total containing his name and surname; this government has accepted this individual’s solicitation to mill fifteen hundred pesos in total, with a value of half a real for each.” It is uncertain where the figure of “8,000” pieces that Breen and others have used originates. Indeed, in the Stack’s Bowers catalog cited below, the mathematics is simple – 1,500 pesos (or eight-reales pieces) multiplied by 16, the number of ½ reales in an eight-reales piece, equates to a mintage of 24,000 pieces. Of course, we may never know the answer to some of the questions surrounding this rare issue. According to the Bevill manuscript, the first of the 1817 jolas was unearthed in the mid-1960s with “a metal detector at the site of Mission San Bernardo, adjacent to San Juan Bautista at the modern-day town of Guerrero, Mexico, near Eagle Pass.” Another specimen was later located at the same place, but it was from a slightly different die than that of the first coin. The suggested mintage of 24,000 pieces is more in step now with the quantities known and the total number of known dies as well. The present specimen first came to light in Mexico in 2010, and was the first 1817 jola to be certified by any major grading service; PCGS has now graded this piece and three others, none above VF-35!
This specimen is earthy in appearance with the patina-like surfaces often found on ancient bronze coins. Areas of deep rusty brown and pale sea-green patination share the obverse. The denominator, 2, is boldly evident, as is AD 1817, those areas the boldest of all the design elements. The B and final A of BARRERA are both plain to the eye, though the rest of the Don’s name is weak and chiefly unreadable. The reverse bears a “Lone Star,’ faint but present, suggesting that a year before the 1818 issue, an American caught a sympathetic ear and succeeded in having a star emblazoned as a part of the coin’s design. A mere nine years after the opening salvos of disclosure for this rare Texas half real piece, the fame of this rarity has spread near and far. Here is an opportunity to include an example of the first coinage accomplished west of the Mississippi, in this case in New Spain-Texas, in an area of the southwest that would eventually become a part of the United States. We’re fairly positive, even at press time, that specialists and collectors alike will queue up to bid for this rarity. This first-ever PCGS-certified 1817 jola is about to enrich one cabinet in the numismatic and historic areas alike, and also make one collector an enormously happy hobbyist and proud new steward of this southwestern classic.
From Stack’s Bowers sale of August, 2012, lot 11155.



PCGS Coin Facts