Cobs: Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins--The Early Spanish American Mints and Their Coinages, 1536-1773 [Hardcover]

Sewall Menzel (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0897222849 | ISBN-13: 978-0897222846 | Publication Date: December 2004

In the 1520s the Spanish crown began to realise through expanded explorations of the likes of Hernando Cortez and Francisco Pizarro that it was in charge of an enormous empire requiring extensive settlement and systems of control. Royal mints were founded to control, evaluate and tax gold and silver coming from the mines, as well as to produce the coins needed for everyday commercial transactions. For some 250 years the mints churned out millions of cob-style coins, many of which found their way into the treasure galleons of the day. Soon mints such as Mexico and Potosi became known as the financial 'pillars of empire' and enabled Spain to engage in seemingly endless wars of conquest and plunder. Geography, crown intransigence, bureaucratuc incompetence, royal intrigues and outright scandal all had an impact on the mints and their productions. In this comprehensive and fully referenced study, Sewall Menzel brings out the critical detail and information needed to understand the ten early Spanish mints of Mexico, Santo Domingo, Peru, Potosi, Panama, Santa Fe de Nuevo Reino (Bogota), Cartagena, Cuzco, Guatemala and Cuba and their respective coinages. Through the use of some two thousand photos and diagrams the coins are identified by mint, king, denomination, mint assayer and type.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Seawall Menzel is a retired US Army Colonel and a professor of political science at the Florida International and Florida Atlantic Universities. He teaches in the fields of Latin American politics and US national security and first became interested in collecting coins while exploring the ruins of the Spanish colonial port town of Portobello, Panama.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: American Numismatic Society (December 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897222849
• ISBN-13: 978-0897222846
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,450,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I find this book problematic, March 28, 2010

By 

J. Proctor (Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cobs: Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins--The Early Spanish American Mints and Their Coinages, 1536-1773 (Hardcover)

For those who like this book, I am glad that you do and for those that don't I can say I can understand why. I would agree that $125 is a great price for a "full sized, extensively illustrated, hardback book on such a specialized topic" as H. S. Dilcher stated before. But I would find it offensive calling someone's comments "totally asinine" when they actually do have merit, as well as comments about "anyone who is serious about collecting cob treasure coins would laugh at someone saying the book was overpriced." The value of a book is not in the size of the book, the eye appeal of its cover or just in its illustrations (be those good or bad in quality). The true value is in the information it contains. And this is where I find this book problematic and falls noticeably short.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." And with this said, I must now say that I do find this book problematic, in that the author many times contradicts himself, has numerous editorial errors, references that are misaligned; whereby the information does not match the statements cited. Furthermore, comments are presented as true statements, even though no corroborating evidence is included to substantiate or validate them. Now before you start asking me what contributions have I made to the advancement of this topic (a list that I do have) or issue a challenge such as "bring it on," let's just go through the first 162 pages of this book (remembering that this book is 484 pages) and see how this book stands up to scrutiny.

On page x, Menzel includes: "I have used a system of mint-specific two-letter codes followed by a sequential number: MX (Mexico), SD (Santo Domingo), Lm (Lima), Po (Potosí), SF (Santa Fe de Bogotá), Ca (Cartagena), Cz (Cuzco), Gt (Guatemala), and Cu (Cuba). My question is where on this list is Panama?

Page 15 - Ferdinand is described as Ferdinand the V of Aragón, although he was Ferdinand the II of Aragón and then later proclaimed Ferdinand the V of Castile and León.

Page 20 - It says that the P is for the Viceroy's of Peru Lima mint. True that the P is for the Lima mint, but the reason for the use of a P is to represent the Province of Peru and not the viceroyalty. Also on page 20, it says: "(see the Breakout Design below)" when it should say: "on the following page."

Page 21 - It says that "the Mexico mint piece has a ball at the end of each segment of the cross." Then it continues: "This ball is peculiar to Mexico and is a key identifying characteristic for this mint." At no point was there any mention that the coins minted in Santo Domingo during 1578 (with the design mandated in 1573), also have this feature.

Page 23 - Where it says: "(1691 for Potosi and 1690 for Lima in the examples above)," this should say "on the previous page."

Page 26 - Menzel says: "the first Lima specimens have an R (for Regis or Rex) at the center." Since he makes such a strong claim in here, with no word that would suggest that he is theorizing or making an assumption as to why there could be an R in here, then I must ask, what source does he site as evidence? Also on page 26 - Right after stating that the R was for Regis or Rex, Menzel then says: "The Style I ¼ real reverses both depict a single crowned pillar." Once again, WRONG. This is not a pillar but the letter I for IOHANNA (something that he himself corrects, contradicting himself on pages 42-43, when it now says that the I is for "IHOANA." Although the later statement is correct, how is the reader supposed to know the real reason when the book contradicts itself from page to page?

Page 35 - The animal-like cobs are said to be a product of "private parties" and that they were "generally not produced at a mint." The mystery of why these coins where produced remains as such, a mystery. But the fact is that if the mint was not involved in their production, then how can it be justified that the coin dies were rotated several times when the coins were being made to highlight the features of the animal they intended to illustrate and also the fact that they also contain almost full weight or sometimes even slightly higher than the denomination involved (proof that they were not cut into those shapes after production, but were produced like that). To me it seems that the only explanation for these is that the mint had to have some kind of participation. But hey, I am just suggesting this. If Menzel has evidence that these coins were made by private parties and not the mint - it would be nice if he provided this evidence in here too.

Page 39 - Menzel states: "A value relationship was also clearly established, with 1 silver real worth 34 copper maravedíes (instead of 44 maravedíes, as was the case in Spain.)" This is wrong. The value was never set at 44 maravedís per real in Spain. That was the value for the Americas prior to the establishment of mints. Also on page 39 - When talking about the early order from 1537 to produce 8 Reales coins at the mint, Menzel says: "While the mint did not produce the 8-reales denomination at this time." According to the Tello de Sandoval investigation, this is not true. Two separate witnesses to the minting since the establishment of the mint in 1536, including Alonso Ponce and Francisco del Rincón (cousin of the first assayer), state that in fact the 8 Reales were minted and discontinued because they were too hard to manufacture (interestingly a picture of the 8 Reales minted during this period is included on the page 128 of the book, contradicting his previous statement).

Page 42 - Menzel says that "A cousin by the same name (Francisco del Rincón) is reported as having worked at the Mexico mint as an assayer assistant and smelter. Not true. There is no document that includes Francisco (the cousin) working as an assayer assistant. Page 66 - Menzel states that "In the absence of Juan Gutiérrez, and as the brother of Francisco del Rincón, it was relatively easy for Alonso to obtain some experience in the assayer position, working as a lieutenant-assayer for Gutiérrez." Why leave out the explanation on why Alonso minted the coins and not Francisco, who owned the office? Also, in here Menzel states that Francisco del Rincon died in in 1555, citing Nesmith's The Coinage of the First Mint of the Americas at Mexico City as the source (pages 17-18). But Nesmith never made such claim.

Page 75 - Menzel states that Bernardo de Oñate "started out as a lieutenant-assayer under Luis Rodríguez, beginning on 4 June 1564. He quotes Pellicer I Bru's "Glosario de Maestros de Ceca y Ensayadores," as the source. In fact, that is not was Pellicer I Bru states. Pellicer I Bru gives credit for the discovery of the name of this assayer to Pérez Sindreu, and states that his name was found on list of mint officials dated 4 June 1564. In fact the beginning date of Oñate's tenure has not been established yet.

Pages 80-81 Menzel has Bernardo de Oñate as working from 1572 to 1589. He includes on his endnotes that this information is in accordance to an article from Perez Sindreu from 1999 (Gaceta Numismatica). Well, that is not what the article says. In fact it seems that Bernardo must have died or just renounced his office in favor of a Luis Oñate (presumably his son). On this article, Don Luis de Oñate started in 1608 that he had been serving the post of assayer of the mint since 1578 (or as stated in 1608, he had been serving as assayer for 30 years). Luis de Oñate is also found on a document from 1598. All these information included in the article that Menzel sites, but which is not included by Menzel anywhere.

Page 91 - Menzel says that the tenure of Francisco de Quintana Dueñas was from 1598-1599. If in fact Dueñas is assayer D (which again I don't find any evidence), then I would still like to know where he gets this information, including the ending date of his tenure as 1599?

Page 131 - The coinage authorized on 10 May 1531 was not for exclusive use of Hispaniola as Menzel states in here. According to Menzel, when minted "these were placed on a special account for shipment to Santo Domingo." In fact, the merchant Perez de Maluenda was said that he could introduce this coinage in whichever part of the Indies he considered of benefit to the Spanish Crown (all information provided on sources cited by Menzel). Interestingly,
on page 139 now Menzel once again contradict himself, when he now says that these coins minted in 1531 were also sent to Mexico, Panama and Puerto Rico.

Page 133 - Menzel says that the mint produced a few coins with the shield design in Santo Domingo, of which "only a few 4 Reales pieces survive." Again we find a contradiction in here, as in page 157 Menzel now says: "Although six distinct die-punch kits (one for each of the denominations to be struck) as well as finished dies were sent to Santo Domingo, only a single 4-reales piece has apparently survived." So what is it then? Is there one 4 Reales or are there a few 4 Reales that have survived? I am aware of the existence of only one. But from the wording of the book I can't tell.

Page 139 - It says the coinage with the style for special use of the Americas took place at Burgos between 1531 and 1536. If he is referring to the coins that started being minted in 1531, as production ending in 1536, then I find a problem with this statement. In fact, this most likely ended in 1533, as the license was only for two years. If he has new evidence that the mint of Burgos produced these coins beyond 1533,... Read more ›

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on Cobs Readily Available, December 13, 2006

By 

Michael P. Gage - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cobs: Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins--The Early Spanish American Mints and Their Coinages, 1536-1773 (Hardcover)

I purchased this book about a year ago and have found it to be an invaluable reference. It is an incredible reference and well worth the price. It provides very detailed information on each of the Spanish colonial mints along with great biographies of each assayer. It is also illustrated with an incredible number of photographs and drawings of nearly every variety of cob coin. I have used it many times to help decipher what I am seeing in my own coins as often only part of a letter or other marking is visible. I have also really appreciated the research that went into naming each of the assayers as other cob books list some of these as unknown. For anyone interested in Spanish colonial cobs I would recommend this book, along with the "Practical Book of Cobs" by Daniel and Frank Sedwick and "Spanish Colonial Silver Coins in the Florida Collection" by Alan K. Craig.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars cobs,pieces of eight and treasure coins, September 20, 2009

By 

Sam Lopez (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cobs: Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins--The Early Spanish American Mints and Their Coinages, 1536-1773 (Hardcover)

What a great book ! I am a lover of Spanish cobs and a collector. this book can turn a novice into a professional
cob specialist, It goes into great detail, I was surprised how much there is to learn about cobs.
with the help of this book I made a fantastic purchase from ebay, I picked up a fantastic cob worth 5 times the
price I paid, The seller had no idea ! good thing he did not have this book.
The book is very well priced and has paid for itself 10 times over, I would recommend this book to anyone !!!
It is my bible, and I use it as my reference before I buy any cobs.
Cheers, Sam Lopez