AN 8 REALES 1812 SOMBRERETE (ZACATECAS)

8 Reales 1812 Sombrerete (Zacatecas)

This coin was issued exactly 200 years ago in the little town of Sombrerete in central Mexico in the state of Zacatecas. It is considered both a Spanish coin, as it was issued by the Royalists loyal to the Spanish Crown, and a Mexican coin. The latter not only due to the obvious reason of it having been made in Mexico, but also because it came into existence as a local emergency issue, when the ongoing War for Independence, the Mexican rebellion against the Spanish colonial rulers, had made it almost impossible to bring the silver mined around Sombrerete to the mint in Mexico City.

Don José María Vargas Machuca was the superintendent of the mines of the region, and he supervised the production of these coins. Why he so prominently placed his name on them, is one of the mysteries surrounding these coins, just like the meaning of the number “3” that is found on all 8 and 4 reales coins of the series.

Another mystery is the incorrect spelling of the town “Sombrete” on all 8 and 4 reales – one might think that this was the way the name of the town was spelled 200 years ago, but then, on the much smaller 1 and 1/2 reales, the name is given as “Sombrerete”!

Note to the numismatists: the catalogs usually do not distinguish the varieties of this type. Only Calicó makes a difference between a variety with and one without a dotted border on the reverse – however, most coins show at least parts of a dotted border of some kind.

With regard to the most noticeable variants, this coin has a large shield with large letters obverse (with the denomination readable), small date, plane 2 in date, no dot after “3”.

The scratches on the coin, which are frequently seen in this series, are usually described as adjustment marks, however, as they are usually long, deep and parallel, I very much assume that they were created during the production of the coin planchets.

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Wayne Homren, Editor

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