Spanish Gold Coins

Spanish Gold Coins








Of all the Spanish gold coins the Doubloon always seems to bring echoes of the romance and adventures of pirates and buccaneers.

As
with Spanish silver, Spanish gold coinage was popular around the world.
The basic gold coin was the eight escudo piece, often called a
Doubloon. In 1537 eight escudos was set at 27.4680 grams of .92 fine
gold (22-carat gold). In 1728 the weight was reduced to 27.06429 grams,
and then in 1772 the fineness was reduced to .90103. The Spanish escudo
eventually became the standard by which other gold coins were measured.

Different
to the silver escudos, the gold escudos were only used by the wealthy
so tend not to be worn down as much. Therefore, the earlier escudos tend
to command a high price, sometimes in the thousands, depending on the
actual condition of the coin.

For example an 8 Escudos gold coin
struck from the Popayan Mint with a weight of 27.0 grams can fetch up to
1400 dollars US or more. A 4 Escudos coin minted in Madrid and
weighting 13.5 grams will fetch up to $795.00.

There are hundreds
of different Spanish gold coins and many collectors specialize in
collecting Spanish gold coins only, building up an impressive collection
with a very high value.

When buying such coins one should seek a
reputable dealer and insist upon a certificate of authenticity. This
should apply to the newer coins as well as the ancient and especially
for ‘shipwrecked’ coins. That is coins found in shipwrecks as salvage.

There
are two types of certificates here. For shipwrecked coins there is the
original certificate supplied by the original company who handle the
salvage and distribution of such coins. The other is for normal coins,
which is to say non shipwrecked coins.

What ever type of Spanish
gold coins one collects one can be assured of an absorbing hobby that
could even turn out to be quite profitable as well!