The Gambellara, Veneto (1913) Hoard

NTJMISMATICAE, ANTICHITA CLASSICHE,

XXVII

QUADERNI TICINESI

37r

JOHN M. KIEEBERG - ARMANDO BERNARDELLI

THE GAMBELLARA,VENETO (1913) HOARD*

In 1913, a hoard of 58 silver coins was found on the estate of Domenico Fra-marin in Gambellara, a small town near Vicenza in the Veneto. Under the Ital-ian law of 20 June 1909, half these coins belonged to the state. Dr. Luigi Riz-zoli the younger selected these; and twenty-nine coins from the hoard weretransferred to the state authorities. On 1 December 1913 at Padua Dr. LuigiSerra, as representative of the superintendency of the galleries of the Veneto,gave the coins to the Museo Civico of Vicenza, represented by its director,Professor Luigi Ongaro.

The hoard is of great jnterest in tracing the circulation of Spanish Ameri-can coins in Europe. Of the twenty-nine coins available to us, nine are fromVenice, twelve from metropolitan Spain, and eight from Spanish America,namely the mints of M6xico, Potosi, and one example of the rare early coinageof Cartagena. In other words, this sample indicates that of the coinage avail-able to the hoarder, one quarter to one third came from Spanish America.

The recent fortunate discovery in the Museo Civico di Vicenza of a notein pencil') gives us the actual amount of the hoard:

2 coins ofPasquale Cicogna, 1595

1 coin of Giovanni Bembo, 1615

2 coins of Antonio Priuli, 1623

2 coins ofFrancesco Contarini, 1623

8 coins of Giovanni Comet 76252 coins of Francesco Erizzo, 163038 coins of Philip IV, King of Spain, for a total of 55 coins.

" The authors wish particularly to thank Andrea Saccocci. During his term as visitingscholar of the ANS summer seminar in 1996, he learned of the interest of J.M.Kleeberg in the circulation of coins of Spanish America in Europe, told him of thehoard, and obtained the collaboration of A. Bernardelli to provide more informationahout the hoard.

r) Museo Civico di Vicenza, archivio, cartella ingressi e donazioni. The coins for-merly kept in the Museo Civico of Vicenza recently have been moved to the Museodella Ca' d'Oro in Venice.

ltt JOHN M. KLEEBERG - ARMANDO BERNARDELLI

If we compare this inventory with the coins acquired by the state, the se-

lection of the Venetian coins made by Rizzoli was a good representation. The

same selection criteria were probably used for the Spanish and Spanish Ameri-can coins. The coins selected for the state's half were chosen with great care

and a good eye - in making his selection Dr. Rizzoli preserved a coin fromCartagena which is very rare. We can presume that the split was fairly even as

to type and the American component of the entire hoard was about the same

proportion as the half known to us.

One of the few coins with a clear date is a Seville 8 reales coin of 16321

there is also a Venetian quarto di scudo della croce of Doge Francesco Erizzowith the mintmaster's initials ZD, for Zlanne Diedo, who entered his office on

9 March 1633. These are the coins with the latest dates. The earliest coin is ascudo della croce of Doge Pasquale Cicogna, with the mintmaster's initialsCB, for Cornelio Barbaro, who was in office from February to July 1592.

There is one 8 reales from Potosi with the assayer's initial R, which may date

from as early as 1605, although it could date from as late as 1613; a 4 reales

from Toledo may date from as early as 1611, although it could date late as

1618. With the exception of these three pieces, all the other coins can be dated

to the 1620s and very early 1630s, so the run of dates is fairly narrow. Thissuggests that the Gambellara hoard was extracted from coin in circulation innorthern Italy in 1633 rather than a savings hoard built up over many years.

Four other hoards have a similarly large proportion of coins from Ameri-can mints, with dates of deposit in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth

century. These hoards were found in the Netherlands. In the Sneek (1941)

hoard, which has a date of deposit of 1604, 50 of 141 coins were definitelyfrom American mints'). In the Oud-Beijerland (1980) hoard, which has a date

of deposit of 1605, 3l of 161 silver coins were from American mintss'. In the

Ooselt (1948) hoard, which has a date of deposit of 1622,35 of 98 silver coins

were from American mints*). In the Huizinge (1979) hoard, which has a date

of deposit of 1596, perhaps 26 of the possibly 161 silver coins were fromAmerican mintss). These four hoards show that American silver coins couldamount to as much as a third of the silver coins in circulation in the Low

') J. VaN KIYK, Muntvondst te Sneek, in <Jaarboek voor Munt- en Penningkunde>(henceforth <JMP>) 33-34, 1946-1947, pp. 144-150l. H.E. V.qN GEr-oBR, De vondstSneelc 1947, in <JMP> 41, 1954, pp. 112-114.

') M. Bttrpnr, Een l6-eeuwse muntvondst. Oud-Beijerland 1980 in <JMP>, 71,1984,pp.145-149.

o) J. ScuuLuex, Muntvondst te Oosselt in <JMP> 36, 1949, pp.98-101.

') Jacques Schulman 8.V., Catalogte 271, Amsterdam, 17-21 November 1980. Thedescription of the Huizinge hoard is somewhat confused; the numbers do not add up.

THE GAMBELLARA, VENETO (1913) HOARD

Countries. The Gambellara (1913') hoard suggests that such a high propor-tioncould occur in Italy, too.

Much of the American silver which arrived in Europe was recoinedu). Thefirst destination for American silver in Europe was Seville, and much of thesilver was sent to the Seville mint'). Four of the five hoards mentioned havemany coins from Seville: J out of 29 itt Gambellara; 76 of 141 in Sneek; 79 of167 silver coins in Oud-Beijerland; and perhaps 18 of the possibly 161 silvercoins in Huizinge.

Further documentary evidence for the importance of Spanish-Americanbullion imports is provided by the latest history of the English Royal Mint. In1632 the English government reached an agreement with Spanish govemmentagents at Madrid, so that Spanish silver for the Low Countries was shipped viaEngland and recoined there. C.E. Challis has said that the Spanish silver tradewas <the prime determinant>> of English mint supply in the 1630s and early1640s').

American coins are also depicted in money changers' manuals of the pe-riod. The manual printed by Christophe Plantin of Antwerp in 1575 shows threeAmerican coins: a 10 reales from Santo Domingo; a 4 reales from M6xico issuedin the names of Charles and Joan, first series, assayer R; and a 2 reales fromM6xico issued in the names of Charles and Joan, second series, assayer Ge).

Vicenza and Gambellara were both under Venetian dominion. Venice wasan important distributing point for silver from Spanish America, much ofwhich was exported to the Levant. Spooner writes,

<They [Spanish reales] were [the driving force] in Marseilles, in Leghorn,in Naples, and, not least, in Venice, where the strict policies of the

o A.A. Gonous and J.P. Gonous, Identification of Potosi Silver Usage in Sixteenth-Seventeenth Century European Coinage through Gold-lmpurity Content of Coins inW.L. Brscuopp, ed. The Coinage of El Peni, Coinage of the Americas ConferenceProceedings No. 5 (New York 1988), pp. 21-42, argue that Potosi silver was an in-significant proportion of the money in circulation in Europe in the seventeenth cen-tury. This is in such flagrant contradiction to what we know from documentary evi-dence that there must be a basic flaw in the chemical methodology. Cf. p. 39, <Eng-land, as expected, has shown no American silver in the coins analyzed> -which iscontradicted by the latest research on the English mint.

') E,.J. Hel,ttr-tott, American Treasure and the Price Revolution in Spain, 1501-1650,Harvard Economic Studies 43, 1934, pp.24-27 .

8) C.E. Cs,q.rr-ts, Bullion Supply and Output, 1603-1660, in Cu,q.r-lrs, ed. A New His-tory of the Royal Minr (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 316-320.D'onghevalueerde gouden ende silveren Munte van diveersche Coninkrijcken...,Antwerp 1575.

-1/-)

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374 JOHN M. KLEEBERG - ARMANDO BERNARDELLI

Provveditori alla zeccakept them from influencing too deeply the life of

lhe Signoria. From there, packed in casks' they were sent to the islands of

theLevant,forVenicewasacitynotonlyofgoodbutofexcellentcoin>>'o)'

Venice experienced great financial stress during the continuous wars of

thisperiod,andhadmuchdifficultywithdebasedforeigncoins.DocumentsshowthereweremanyforeigncoinsincirculationintheVeneto'andparticu-larly Spanish reales. Numerous decrees were promulgated to prohibit the pres-

ence or the introduction of foreign coins into the venetian dominions")' These

coins were to be melted down and re-minted as venetian coins. The reales are

always referred to as Spanish and are not distinguished as American except for

the very significant ,"Lark under Doge Francesco Molin (1646-1655) about

trouble in the silver suPPlies:

<Theyfurnishadditionalsilverbyacquiringrealesinforeignmarkets;inthe mint documents we find a memorandum of the assays performed on

themandoftheprotestswhichwereraisedbecausetherealesofMexicoandPeruwerefbundtohavealesserfinenessthansetforthinthepur-chase regulations>>r')'

ItissignificantthatthecomplaintabouttheAmericansilverarisesinthisperiod, forin the 1640s the urruy"r, at potosi debased the coin and embezzled

thedifference.Thescandalwasimmensewhenthenewsleakedout,3).Com-plaints were heard from England, Ireland, and Hollandt4); counterrlarking op-

ror F.C. SpooNgR, The Internatictnal Economy ancl Monetaty Movements in France'

l4g3-1725, Harvard Economic Studies, 138 (Cambridge, Massachusetts 1972), pp.

2l -28; seeaiso G' pnnre*' The Atmy of Flanders ancl the Spanish Road 1567 1659'

The Logistics oY Spooi,t' ii"oT aicl befeat in the Low Countries' Wors' J 'H' Et--

lrorr and rr.c. r<oBNtiiuu*or*, eds., Cimbridge Studies in Early Modern History,

(Cambridge 197 2), PP. 1 53- 1 54',,) N. pa.p.q.popor,r,Le rtoirt, diVenezia,III, (Milan 1919), pp' 6;46;48 69-10;96-

91 ; 143-144; 166 219'221 223; 27 0'1r) <Altro argento ,i prorrlJ" u.quistando sulle piazze estere i Reali e nei documenti di

zecca troviamo memoria dei iaggi che si fecero di essi e delte proteste elevate per-

chd i Reali del Messico e oel pJiu risultarono di titolo inferiore a quello convenuto

nei capitoli d'acquisto'> P'qp'{oopoI-r, III, p' 270',:r S.H. Me*zrr-, rne potos{ Mint ScanLdal ind Great Transition of 1652' (west Palm

Beach 1995).14) MENZEL, p. 6; P.L. MOSSrrreN, Money of the American colonies and confederation:

A Numismatic, Lconomic oni Uf'toii'il Correlation' (ANS> NS 20' 1993' p' 56'

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THE GAMBELLARA, VENETO (1913) HOARD 315

erations in Spanish Americars) and in Antwerpl6)were carried out to distinguishthe good coins and devalue the bad; and the first coinage of Massachusetts sil-ver at the Boston mint may have begun in reaction to this debasementlr). TheVenetian mint records show that Venice was affected by this crisis of confi-dence just as were the other major money centres: Portobello, Boston, Londonand Antwerp.

Hoarding, as Thordeman and others have emphasized, is linked with peri-ods of military activityls). Kent, however, has pointed out the striking discrep-ancy between army movements and hoarding in the case of the English CivilWar. Casey suggests that many hoards are not concealed where the armiesmove, but where the soldiers are recruited. The soldiers bury their treasure be-fore they leave for the wars; they are killed and never recover their hoards.Casey points out similar hoarding patterns during the civil wars at the end ofthe Roman Republic and in England during the Napoleonic Wars,e).

There was no lack of military activity in northern Italy in this period - thewars over the Valtelline (1620-1621, 1635-1637), the three Mantuan wars(1613-1615, 1616-161'7, 1628-1631), the war fought by Venice against theUzkoks (1615-1611), and the war fought by Venice over Crete (1645-1669).But none fits well with the date of deposit of 1633. No major military events

's) MENZEL, pp. 11-14; W.B. CunrsrpNspN, Zfte 1649-1652 Revalidation Countermarksof Potosi, in Numismatics - Witne,ss to History, ([London?] 1986), pp. 169-112.

'u) A. DE Wrrro, Conffemarque appliqu€e ,sur les monnaies d'argent espagnoles ethispano-amdricaines dans les Pays-Bas mdridionaux, durant la seconde moitid duXVIIe siicle, in <RBN> 50, 1894, pp.539-541;M. Hoc, Le Cours et le Marquagedes R€aux d'Espagne et de Mexiclue aux Pays-Bas. in <RBN> 106, 1960, pp.285-294. A Belgian coin hoard with a date of deposit of 1674-1615 contains a 1662 coinfrom Santa F6 de Bogot6, in what is now Colombia, with the Antwerp golden fleececountermark: J. MEnrpNs and L. De DoNpen, Trouvaille de monnaies des XVI" etXVII" siicles d Tenneville, in <RBN> 104, 1958, pp. 175-189.

17) J.M. KlrennRc, Debasement may be real reason, in <CW> 36, 183 I , 15 May 1995,p.25.This observation has been made by many scholars, among them T. MourraspN,Geschichte des rdmischen Miinlwesens (Berlin, 1860), p. 41 l; B. Tuonoer,rnN, ZfteLohe Hoard. A Contribution to the Methodology of Numismatics in <NC>>, 6th se-ries, 8, (1948) pp.192-196.J.P. C. KrNr, Interpreting Coin Finds, in J. C,qspy and R. Reecp, eds., Coins and theArchaeologist, British Archaeological Reports 4 (Oxford 1974), pp. 190-196; P.J.Clsey, Understanding Ancient Coins. An Introductionfor Archaeologists and Histo-rlans, (Norman, Oklahoma 1986), pp. 61-62. Besly is not wholly convinced by therecruitment explanation, and points out how the discovery of more hoards has en-abled a fuller record than that depicted by Kent in 1974: E. Besly, English Civil WarCoin Hoards, British Museum Occasional Paper No. 51, (London 1987),pp.61-68.

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376 JOHN M. KLEEBERG - ARMANDO BERNARDELL]

involving northern Italy occurred between the peace of Cherasco of 19 June

163 1, which ended the Mantuan War, and Henry de Rohan's invasion of theValtelline in March 1635.

Northern Italy was the prime recruiting ground for Habsburg and otherarmies fighting on the Imperialist side in the Thirty Years' War: in one Bavar-ian regiment the Italians numbered 271 , the second largest group after Ger-mans'o). If we apply Casey's theory, the hoard has a good historical context.The Habsburgs recruited several large armies in northern Italy in this period.

In the summer of 1633, the Duke of Feria, the governor of Spanish Lombardy,led an army of 20,000 through the Valtelline to Germany; most died of plague

the following winter2r). ln 1634, another army was recruited and led by Ferdi-nand of Austria, a Cardinal and an Infante of Spain. This army arrived in Ger-many in September 1634 and won the battle of Ncirdlingen against theSwedish"). This army survived longer than Feria's, but it was annihilated onthe battlefield of Rocroi in 1643"). Geoffrey Parker has written that <enlist-

ment was virtually a sentence of death>>2a). There were good reasons why thishoard remained unrecovered.

The Spanish Habsburgs were very active militarily in both norlhern Italyand in the Netherlands in this period. They recruited armies in populous north-ern Italy. They transported these armies to the Low Countries to put down theDutch Revolt along the <Spanish Road>. From Milan, the lines of communica-tion would either go west, through Savoy, and then north through FrancheComt6 and Lorraine to the Low Countries; or north, over the Spliigen pass tothe Tyrol and Bavaria, and then via Franche Comt6 or the Rhine to the LowCountries'5) These communications by land were just as vital to the Spanishworld empire as were the movements by sea - the Atlantic treasure fleets and

the Manila galleon'?or.

Although hoards of silver coins from Spanish America are found in boththe Netherlands and northem Italy, silver coins did not often move betweenthe two areas. When the Spaniards had to move money along the <Spanish

Road>, they usually converted it to gold to make it easier to carry. Both Italy

20) G. P.q.Rrpn, The Thirty Years' War, (London 1981), p. 192.

'') PARKER, Thirty Years' War, p. 132.

") PARKER, Thirty Years' War, pp. 140-141.r) C.V. Wnocwoop, The Thirty Years War (Garden City, New York 1961), pp. 440-

444.

'o) PARKER, Thirty Years' War, p. 193.

") PARKER, Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road.

'6) M. PETERSoN, The Funnel o;f Gold, (Boston 1975); W.L. Scuunz, The Manila Gal-leon, (New York 1939).

THE GAMBELLARA, VENETO (1913) HOARD

and the Netherlands were distinct destinations for the wealth of the Americas,which arrived by separate routes. Spanish silver coin was shipped to northernItaly, especially Genoa and venice, to repay loans from bankers and to recruittroops. Spanish silver coin got to the northern Netherlands because the balanceof trade was adverse to Spain and favourable to the Netherlands, and wasshipped by sea to redeem bils of exchange. Hoards of Spanish coin in Itaryand the Netherlands in the early seventeenth century are parallel and relatedphenomena, but not directly linkedr,).

Documentary evidence shows that the circulation of Spanish and SpanishAmerican silver in the venetian dominions was significunt. tt

" Gambellarahoard provides the first substantial archaeological confirmation of this phe_nomenon2n).

") PARKER, Army of Flanclers antl the Spanish Roacl, pp.153_ i55.'8) A single 8 reales of the potosi mint was found in the Fusina (venezia) embank_

ments. cf. M. Asolau, C. cRrslpur-r-t, Ritr.vamenti monetari cri etd romana neLveneto, ed. G. Gonr*r , ylr2, venezia/Altino II, padua 1994, p.195. Another SpanishAmerican coin perhaps came from the same area. A philip Ii real from the Mexicanmint was also found in val di Non (Trentino), near Cres (cf. A. H,ss, Descriptiongeneral de las monedas hispano-cristianas,I, Madrid f SOS, p. l5S, ;.23 for rhetype); we owe this information to Andrea Saccocci. we also note the various pro_jects of the venetian mint from-the beginning of the sevenre"r,h .;n;;y onwards tocreate a new coin, the Reale veneto. which would imitate the Spanisir g reares inweight and fineness. The reason for this was the dangerously trigil presence or foneign coins, especially reales, not only in the eastern venetian dominions but in theVeneto too. Cf. paeanorolr, III, pp.4g_49; 145;224_225;221.

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CATALOGUE

VENICE})

1. MR 1: Doge Pascale cicogna, scudo dela croce da lire sette, mintmaster cB(cornelio Barbaro; 17 February - 27 ]dy 1592). 3r.63 grams; 9 o,crock. pa-padopoli 92var; CN1 vol.7,p.502,no. 152.

2. MR 2: Doge Antonio priuli, scudo della croce da lire sette, mintmaster vC (vin-cenzo coner; 13 January - 10 June 1620).31 .66 grams; 2 o'crock. papadopori50; CNI vol. 8, p. 63, no. 59.

3. MR 8: Doge Antonio priuli, quarto di scudo della croce, mintmaster cD (CarloDond; 2 June - 4 Ocrober 1621). papadopoli 106 var; CNI vol. g, p. 6g, no. 100var.7.l3 grams; 9 o'cIock. similar to papadopori 106 or cNI roo, but withspelling VENET on the reverse.

4. MR 7: Doge Francesco contarini, scudo della croce da lire sette, mintmaster IBC(Gian, or Zan, Battisra contarini; 20 March 1623 - 15 April 1624).31.65 grams;5 o'clock. Papadopoli 33; CN1vol. 8, p.93, no. 31.

5. MR 3: Doge Giovanni Corner I, scudo della croce, mintmaster FM (Ferigo Molin;4 January 1625 - 15 September 1625).3r.52 grams; 2:30 o'clock. papadopori 33;CNI vol.8, p. 107, no. 12.

6. MR 6: Doge Giovanni corner I, scudo derla croce, mintmaster FM (FerigoMolin; 4 January 1625 - 15 September 1625).31 .63 grams; g o'crock. papadopoli33; CN1voI.8, p. 107, no. 14.

1. MR 5: Doge Giovanni Corner I, scudo della croce, mintmaster Gp (Giacomo pe_saro; 7 April 1621 - 26 June 1628). 31.65 grams; l2 o'clock. papadopoli 4i; CNIvol. 8, p. 112,no.65.

8. MR 4: Doge Giovanni corner I, scudo della croce, mintmaster GC (Girolamocontarini; 26 June 1628 - 26 January 1629).31.66 grams; 9 o'clock. papadopoli48; CN1vol. 8, p. 113, no.73.

9. MR 9: Doge Francesco Erizzo, quarto di scudo delra croce, mintmaster ZD(Zranne Diedo; 9 March 1633 - 25 August 1634).7.g92 grams; 7 o,crock. pa-padopoli 88; CN1vol. 8, p. 146, no.2g.

References used: N. PaploopoLr Ar-ooeRaNorNt, Le Monete di venezia, (venice1893-1919); Corpus Nummorum ltalicorum. vols. 7 and g.. veneto, (Rome 1915-1917).

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SPAINI)

Madrid mint

10. MR 28: 4 reales, assayer v [ca. 1628] . 13.42 grams; 7 o'crock. cay6n-castdn5542; Calic6-Trigo 555. Assayer v is only known for 1621, 1626-162g for silver,but his initial occurs on gold coins for 1625,1631,1642, and.1645. The likeliestdate is around 1628. That would make this coin the earliest known example of theMadrid mintmark punched in vertically. The earliest coin known with i verticalmintmark and a visible date is dated 7639.').

Seville mint

1 1. MR l0: 8 reales, assayer D, [ca. 1625]. 27 .2r grams;2:30 o'crock. cay6n-cast6n5728; Cahc6-Trigo 307.

12. MR 26: 2 reales, assayer D,11626-16271. 6.55g grams; g o'clock. cay6n-cast6n5408, 541 3; Calic6-Trigo 712.

13. MR 11: 8 reales, assayer R (Rodas? or Rivas?), [ca. 1630]. 27.26 grams; l:30o'clock. Cay6n-Cast6n 5765; Calic6-Trigo 3 12.

14. MR 15: 8 reales, assayer R (Rodas? or Rivas?), [ca. 1630]. 27.46 grams; llo' clock. Cay6n-Cast6n 57 65 ; Calic6-Trigo 3 12.

15. MR 18: 8 reales, assayer R (Rodas? or Rivas?), 1632. 26.3l grams; 2:30 o,clock.Cay6n-Cast6n 57 7 9 ; Calic6-Trigo 3 1 4.

16. M_R 19: 4 reales, assayer R (Rodas? or Rivas?), fca. 162g?). 13.61 grams; 3o'clock. Cay6n-Casr6n 5541 , Calic6-Trigo 592.

MR 21: 4 reales, neither dare nor assayer visible, [ca. 162g?1. 13.70 grams; 2:30o' clock. Cay6n-Cast6n 5547 ; Calic6-Trigo 592.The date for this coin was estimated on the basis of style. It is clearly from theSeville mint because the band for Austria on the shield widens and opens towardsthe left, a characteristic of that mint.

References used: F. C,qr-rc6, X. Cauc6 and J. Tnrco, Moneda Espaiiolas desde Fer-nando e lsabel a Juan Carlos 1 (Barcelona, 1988). Seventh edition; J.R. Cay6N andc. cesrAN, Monedas Espafi.olas desde los visigodos hasta el euint.o Centenario delDescubrimento de America (Madricl, 1991). Eleventh edition. Assayers, nameswere determined from J.Ppr-r-rceR r Bn0, Glosario de Maestros d.e-Ceca y En-s ay ado re s. Ens ay o de o rdenac i6n Alfab e tic o - C rono lo gic a (Barcelona, 1 975).carrc6, car-rc6, and rmco p. 258 (types 10g and 109i; J. prr-Lrcsn tB,.u, El MedioDuro, (Barcelona 1971), p. 181, dates assayer M to 1633-1635, who also punchedin veftical mintmarks, which is quite possible but as yet unproven.

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Toledo mint

18. MR 17: 4 reales, assayer V, [1615-1618]. 13.73 grams; 11:30 o'clock. Cay6n-Castln 441 3, 4484, 449 I ; Ca1ic6-Trigo 21 6 -219 .

MR 24: 4 reales, assayer P, 11619-16351. 13.65 grams; 2 o'clock. Cay6n-Cast6n4493, 4499, 4505, 55 1 9, s522, 5527, 5532, 5538, 554 1, 5548, 5563, 557 0, 557 5;Calic6-Trigo 220-223, 605-6 1 3.

MR 20: 2 reales, assayer P,11621-16351.6.702 grams, 3 o'clock. Cay6n-Castiin5391 , 5399, 5400, 5402, 5405, 5409, 5414, 5421, 5426, 543t,5441; Calic6-Trigo718-122.

MR 23: real, assayer P,11620-16211. 3.42 grams; 10:30 o'clock. Cay6n-Cast6n4283, 429 0, 5268, 528 6 ; C alic6-Trigo 39 6 -391, 82 1 -822.The only dates listed for this denomination and assayer in Cay6n-Castdn and Cal-ic6-Trigo are 7620, 1621, 1624 and 1627 .

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SPANISH AMERICA

Viceroyalry of New Spuin

M6xico mint

MR 29: 2 reales, assayer F, [1610-16171. 6.496 grams; 3 o'clock. Sedwick M17;Cay6n-Castdn 4354, 4366, 4384; Calic6-Trigo 335-338.

MR 22: real, assayer D, [1618-1634].3.35 grams; 9 o'clock. Sedwick M18;Cay6n-Castiin 5264, 521 5 ; Ca1ic6-Trigo 856- 85 8.

Sedwick says that assayer D was active 1618-1634; Calic6-Trigo only list 1622,1628, and 1631 as possible dates for this assayer for 1 reales; Cay6n-Castdn onlylist 1622 and 1621.

MR 14: 8 reales, assayer D, [ca. 1630-16341. 27.4 grams; 9:30 o'clock. SedwickM18; Cay6n-Cast6n 5160, 5768, 5115; Caltc6-Trigo 374-378. The broad andcrude lilies at the end of the croix pomm6e on the reverse corresponds to coinsknown to be dated to 1630-1634; cf. Concepci1n 12-21. A Mexican cob withcroix pomm6e of similar style was excavated from the Athenian agora in 1971(catalogue number PP-25;rr.

In addition to the general Spanish references listed above, we have used D. and F.SBowcr, The Practical Book of Cobs (Winter Park, Florida 1995). Third Edition.One shipwreck was useful because its date is close to the closing date of our hoard:Nuestra Sefiora de la Concepci1n, which sank in 1641. We used the auction catalogueHenry Christensen Inc., No. 80 14 May 1982: cited as Concepci6n with lot number.

[F.S. KrerNen], Medieval and Modern Coins in the Athenian Agora, Excavations ofthe Athenian Agora Picture Books l8 (Princeton i978), pp. 25-26 (plate 23).

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THE GAMBELLARA, VENETO (19i3) HOARD

MR 25: 4 reales, probably assayer D,fca. 16321on stylisric grounds: large globesat the end of the croix pomm6e, lions more couchant than rampant. 13.61 grams;3 o'cIock. Sedwick Ml8; Cay6n-Castiin 5559; Calic6-Trigo 627 .

Viceroyalty of Peril

Cartagena Mint

MR 13: 8 reales, assayer E, [ca. 1628].21 .1 grams; 5 o'clock. Sedwick C3;Cay6n-Cast6n 5149;'Calic6-Trigo -. The coin has the assayer's initial in berweenthe two letters for the mint: NER (NR for Nuevo Reino). Cf . Concepci1n 213-274. A rare specimen3a).

Potosi Mint

MR 27: 8 reales, assayer R (Baltasar Ramos Leceta), [1605?-1613]. 13.42 grams;7 o'clock. Sedwick P15; Cay6n-Castrin 4518; Calic6-Trigo 145-149.

MR 16: 8 reales, assayer P (Pedro Martin de Palencia), t1624-16261. 2j.44grams; 3 o'clock. Sedwick P23; Cay6n-C ast6.n 5726, 5731, 5733; Calic6-Trigo -.

MR 12: 8 reales, assayer T (Juan Xim€,nez de Tapia), [ca. 1628]. 27.23 grams;7o'clock. Sedwick P24; Cay6n-Castdn 5152; Calic6-Trigo 460. Concepci6n l19,dated 1628, is so close stylistically that only very close observation makes it clearthat it is not a die duplicate; it is almost cefiainly by the same die engraver.

'*) J.R. L.q.ssey, The Cobs of Cartegena, 1622-1655, in AJN,3-4 (New York 1992), pp.111-122; J.R. Lmsen, The Silver Cobs of Colombia, in Btscsopr, ed., Coinage ofPeril, pp. 121-140.

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