NEW BOOK: THE PILLAR COINAGE

A Variety Guide to the Pillar Coinage of the Guatemala, Bogota, Lima, Potosi, and Santiago Mints 1751-1772

by Brad Yonaka
ISBN: 978-0-9986825-1-8
377 pp. | 8 ½ x 11 inch softbound

In 1728 a royal decree from Philip V mandated the manufacture of machine-struck coins in the Spanish colonial mints. However, the mints of Guatemala, Santa Fe de Bogota, Lima, Potosi, and Santiago were only able to fully comply, at the earliest, over twenty years later. The coins were dubbed pillars or ‘columnarios' due to the prominent rendition of the Pillars of Hercules flanking globes symbolizing the Old and New Worlds, united under the Spanish banner. They, along with nearly identical coinage already being produced in Mexico City, quickly became an international currency, trusted and traded around the world.

This book, self-published in August 2018, is a detailed variety guide for all denominations (half, one, two, four, and eight reales) of the pillar issues from the mints of Guatemala, Santa Fe de Bogotá, Lima, Potosi, and Santiago. It is essentially a companion volume to a previous offering by the author entitled "A Variety Guide to the Fractional Pillar Coinage of Mexico City, 1732-1771". As such the layout is quite similar. The targeted audience is the collector of Spanish colonial coinage, and presumes the reader has a basic knowledge of 18th century minting processes. It draws from a database of nearly 4000 high resolution coin images gathered over a period of eleven years from online auctions and photographs of private collections.

It has been over a decade since the last published accounting of die varieties for these series, and since that time, a significant number of previously unlisted design variations have been recorded by the author. Additionally, some speculative variety types and dates listed but unproven in past research are refuted by lack of current evidence, to the end of simplifying the task of the ardent variety collector.

With over 550 black and white photos of full coins and close-ups of variety details, this book strives to provide collectors with the most descriptive tools possible in pursuit of this famous coin type, from the relatively abundant eight reales issues of Lima to the ultra-rare minors of Santa Fe de Bogota and Santiago. Full cross references to previous catalog numbers (if they exist) are given for each entry.

The book also contains descriptive and historical information on the various mints, estimated rarities (based on the author's extensive auction database and comprehensive die pairing study), and pricing guide based on recent auction results. Price: $36, add $5 for shipping within USA. Overseas shipping please inquire.

Order by sending personal check to:

Agorocu Consulting Inc.
PO Box 41515
Long Beach, CA 90853
Or payment by Paypal to: acanthite@live.com

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: MEXICO CITY FRACTIONAL PILLAR COINAGE (http://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n26a04.html

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web