Prooflike Onzas 1850 from Costa Rica: true Specimens or

something else?
Carlos Jara.
Introduction
The coinage series of Costa Rica appears rather short when compared to other countries,
such as Guatemala, Chile or Argentina. However, a few outstanding rarities, mostly in the
gold series, are present. The most important ones, from a historical and numismatic
persperctive, are undoubtedly the provisional gold issues struck in 1825, of which only a
few specimens are known, one of which is illustrated below:

Figure 1: Provisional Costa Rica Gold 2 Pesos 1825, the only specimen known, private
collection (enlarged)
Other famous rarities among the gold series are the 1837 F 8 Escudos, the 1828 1
Escudo, and the 1849 4 Escudos (all struck with the design of the Central American
Republic). The latter was the last gold coin struck in Costa Rica with Central American
Republic dies. Only 415 specimens were struck, as we will see further on, of which only a
very few (Id venture to say between 5 and 10) survive.

Figure 2: Costa Rica 4 Escudos 1849 JB (Juan Barth). The Eliasberg specimen.1

See http://www.coinfactswiki.com/wiki/Costa_Rica_1849-CR_JB_4_escudos.

On the other hand, the coin subject of this article, which is part of first issue of gold coins
struck with the Republica de Costa Rica dies, is not nearly as rare as the previously
mentioned coins: we are referring to the 1850 Onza (equivalent to 4 Escudos), referenced
in Krause-Mishler2 as KM-100, and in Friedbergs Gold Coins of the World as Fr-73.
In fact, the 1850 Onza is among the more available Costa Rican gold coins, if one does
not search for high grade specimens (meaning strictly Uncirculated ones), since coins in VF
or lower grades can be labeled as downright common. The normally encountered examples
are neither visually appealing since another characteristic of this issue is that almost all
known examples show an imperfect strike, and lack details in the area near the sun in the
shield, and in the face of the standing liberty. A case in point is the following coin, which
although graded as AU in a recent auction sale, which contained an important Costa Rican
collection4, lacks the mentioned details:

Krause, Chester L., and Colin R. Bruce II, Standard Catalog of World Coins: Spain, Portugal and the New
World, 2002.
3
Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 7th
ed., 2003.
4
Spink-Smythe: The Frederick R. Mayer Collection Of Costa Rica, (October 23, 2008), lot # 1190.

Figure 3: description and illustration of lot # 1190 in the auction of the Mayer
collection (enlarged).
However, there exist a very few known coins of this issue which show a much better strike,
and glowing surfaces, evidence of a much better die state. I have so far censed three
different such coins, which are identified below.
The difference in quality of strike and surfaces between these three coins and their normally
encountered counterparts is so prominent, that two of said three coins have been graded as
either Proof, Prooflike or Specimen issues when described in recent auction appearances.
Let us now detail the appearances/pedigrees of the aforementioned three different
specimens:
- the coin presently housed in the Smithsonian Institution collection, and therefore
very probably from the Josiah Lilly holdings. In the opinion of Manuel Chacn
(curator of the Numismatic Museum of the Central Bank of Costa Rica), this is the
finest known of all 1850 Onzas. When seeing it in person, it is indeed hard to
disagree:

Figure 4: Onza 1850 from the Smithsonian collection. Perhaps the finest known
specimen.
-

the coin in the Hammel collection sold by Stacks in 1983 (lot # 800 in that sale5),
and plated and described in that sale as follows:

Stacks: The Mortimer Hammel Collection of 19th & 20th Century Foreign Gold Coins, September 15,16,
1982.

Figure 5: Onza 1850 from the Hammel collection (enlarged, scanned from the
Stacks catalog) and its description.
-

The coin plated in Murillos Historia Numismatica de Costa Rica6, later sold as
part of the Meyer collection by Spink-Smythe7, and recently auctioned by Ponterio
in NYINC 20118, with the following respective descriptions:

Figure 6: The Onza 1850 from the Mayer collection, graded Specimen-61, lot # 357
in Ponterios 2011 NYINC auction.

Murillo, Jorge: Historia de las monedas de Costa Rica: catlogo numismtico, San Jos, 2004.
Spink-Smythe: The Frederick R. Mayer. Collection Of Costa Rica, (October 23, 2008), lot # 1191.
8
Ponterio & Associates, Inc. The 2011 N.Y.I.N.C. Auction, lot # 357.
7

Figure 7: description and illustration of lot # 1191 in the auction of the Frederick R.
Mayer collection of Costa Rica.

Figure 8: Description of the Onza 1850 (same coin as above) sold as lot # 357 in
Ponterios NYINC 2011 auction.

Note that while the Spink-Smythe cataloguer assumed that the Murillo/Meyer example was
the Hammel piece, we disagree and think these are two different coins. Although the
Stacks plate of the Hammel coin is not of very high quality, it is sufficient to notice that
the Hammel coins image shows fully struck denticles while in the Mayer coin, there is a
slight weakness in strike in the denticles above ... DE COSTA ... in the shield. Note that
the current whereabouts of the Hammel specimen are unknown to me.
Also, since the strike and surface quality of the Smithsonian coin is at least on par with
these two mentioned coins, we may therefore conclude that there are two other coins (the
Hammel and Smithsonian pieces) with a similar quality that the one graded as a Specimen
(the equivalent of a Proof) strike by PCGS. But are these really Proof or Specimen coins?
I personally examined the Meyer coin at NYINC 2011, and felt that it was not really a
Proof or Specimen strike. This seems indeed to be the same impression that the SpinkSmythe cataloguer had when he wrote that the luster of this coin was ...not to the depth of
modern proofs.. Since the dies for these coins, as we will see, were fabricated at the Royal
Mint, it is highly unlikely that this coin is a true Proof strike from the Royal Mint, since its
quality is not even remotely comparable with Royal Mint Proof coins, such as the famous
1839 Una and the Lion issue.

Figure 9: 1839 Una and the Lion 5 pounds Proof issue.

Another characteristic, pointed out to me by a fellow and very knowledgeable numismatist,
is that these so-called specimens have a distinct edge, in that the areas between the reeds
are flat and proof-like9.
This also corresponds with the fact that the Stacks cataloguer mentioned that the Hammel
piece was ... purchased as a Proof, but he instead graded that piece as Brilliant
Uncirculated.

This same numismatist also mentioned that he came across a somewhat weakly struck piece with prooflike
surfaces and a similar edge, but ...whether this was a poorly produced specimen, or a regular strike from
specimen dies and collar, or just a normal production piece remains undetermined.

However, while dismissing the above mentioned 3 pieces as not being true Proofs, based on
technical appreciations of their strike and surface quality would be probably right, this still
would not provide a reasonable explanation for their existence, and of course their rarity
and superior quality when compared with the normally encountered 1850 Onzas.
Luckily, the analysis of the available contemporary sources will shed a light on this matter:

Some historical facts

The 1850 Onza coins were struck under decree of July 20, 184910 and its dies were
commissioned by Benjamin Wyon, of the Royal Mint11 (along with the dies to strike the
new complete series of coins of Costa Rica beginning in 1850). Many of the trussels still
extant in the Numismatic Museum of the Central Bank of Costa Rica bear the Benjamin
Wyon signature. As mentioned previously, these were the first gold coins to bear the legend
Republica de Costa Rica.
The initials J.B that appear on the Onza coins correspond to the assayer of the Costa
Rica mint, Johann Barth, active at that time.
Studying the Costa Rica Mintage figures (gathered by Manuel Quirs and published by him
in 188312) for the 1849-1860 period, we find that 415 pieces of the 1849 4 Escudos were
issued (in 1849) and that 522 1850 Onza coins were struck in 1850.

Figure 10: partial reproduction of the Mintage Table by Manuel Quirs and
reproduced in Murillo
10

Murillo, op. cit., pages 71-72.

Murillo, op. cit., pages 76-80.
12
Murillo, op. cit., page 1 of the appendix.
11

Figure 11: detail of the mintages for the 4 Escudos struck in 1849 and the Half Onzas
(all dated 1850) struck in 1850, 1857, and 1858.
It is necessary to make a small parenthesis here and explain the above figures, since these
are apparently the first accurate ones published, although the Murillo book reproduced the
Costa Rica Mint mintage tables, and Holland Wallace published, long ago, mintage figures
that although approximated, were indeed incorrect13.
The Costa Rican mintage tables published in Murillo are correct, but must be interpreted
carefully, because they list not the actual number of coins struck for each denomination, but
rather the equivalence in pesos of 1883 standard (the table being constructed in 1883) of
the coins struck for each denomination.
This is tricky, because this table, being an accounting document, refers to accounting
pesos. When calculating the actual numbers of gold coins struck from a given entry in the
table, the numismatist must take into account the equivalence between the coins mentioned
in said entry and the pesos of 1883 standard.
The short footnotes by Mateo Quiros himself at the bottom of his mintages table give us
the necessary clues to accurately calculate the actual mintage figures:
He indicates that:
-

per decree of December 1st, 1841, a gold onza (meaning an 8 Escudos coin or its
equivalent in other gold denominations) was equivalent to 18 pesos.
per decree of April 14, 1842, an onza was equivalent to 16 pesos.
per decree of March 26, 1843, an onza was equivalent to 17 pesos.

Note that between 1829 and December 1st, 1841, the equivalence for a gold onza was the
normal one, of 16 pesos.
For the 1849-1850 figures, we must therefore consider an equivalence of 17 pesos per onza,
meaning that the equivalence for the gold 4 Escudos (in the 1849 indicated mintage figures)
and the Onza (in the 1850 mintage) is of 8.5 pesos per Onza.

13

See for example the Eliasberg collections auction catalog, were the description of lot # 1679, the 1849 CR
4 Escudos, read: ...A very rare issue, from a mintage of 441 pieces in a year when only escudos, 1
escudos, and 4 escudos were struck in gold at the CR mint.

This equivalence of 8.5 pesos per Onza explains the seemingly inconsistent mintage
figure for the 1849 4 Escudos (of 3527.50 pesos), since that figure (with a decimal 0.5)
would not have made any sense if we were using the normal equivalence of 8 pesos per
Onza.
Another vital piece of information is indicated by Murillo on page 76 of his fine book: A
curious piece of information is that on August 24, 1857, the President of Costa Rica
authorized the Mint to strike gold Onzas with the die dated 1850, because the dies for the
Onza coins broke.

Figure 12: excerpt from page 76 of Murillos Historia de las Monedas de Costa Rica.
Indeed, the mintage table indicates that the equivalent of 135056.5 pesos were struck in
1857, and the equivalent of 3213 pesos in 1858, all in coins of Onzas. With the
information quoted by Murillo, we may safely conclude that these totals were struck with
1850-dated dies.
Note that Murillo erred in indicating that, according to the mintage table by Manuel Quiros,
the numbers of Onza coins dated 1850 that were struck were supposedly 138 pieces in
1850, 4220 pieces in 1857, and 100 pieces in 1858: this error is due to him incorectly using
a 32/1 ratio14 between the figures and the actual number of coins struck, instead of the
correct 8.5/1 ratio, as we explained above. Jos Vargas gives a much better estimate using a
16 pesos per onza ratio.15
14

This error is undoubtedly from confusion, but credit must be given to Murillo for publishing the actual table
by Manuel Quirs.
15
He obtained a figure of 17838 coins. See Vargas-Zamora, Jos: A 160 aos de la fundacin de la Repblica

The correct mintage figures for the 1850 onza coins are therefore:

Coins struck in 1850

Coins struck in 1857
Coins struck in 1858
Total

Amount in pesos
(rate of 8.5 pesos per Onza)
4437
135056.5
3213
142706.5

Actual number of coins

struck
522
15889
378
16789

Table 1: summary of mintages for the Onza 1850 issue.

Only in May 1873 were new machines to strike coins acquired by the Costa Rica Mint16,
meaning that the coin presses can only have deteriorated between 1850 and 1857-1858.
Add to the above the fact that the 1850 dated dies were undoubtedly in much better shape
when new (in 1850) than seven or eight years later, in 1857-1858, and you reach the
following logical conclusion:
The 1850 Onza coins that show a better strike, and quality surfaces (a consequence of
the early die state), are the ones actually struck in 1850 (a mere 522 coins), while the
ones usually encountered, with much poorer details and a deteriorated strike quality, are
the ones issued in 1857-1858 (16267 coins in total).
Although me have not been able to examine the edge designs of the Hammel and
Smithsonian pieces, we think it is highly likely that this original 1850 issue also possessed
the previously mentioned characteristic in the reeded edge design, namely that the areas
between the reeds are flat and proof-like. Indeed, we think that this characteristic edge
design, was obtained by using a new collar, the one sent from the Royal Mint in 1850,
corresponding to the receipt pictured below. This collar must have broken before 1857,
explaining the different edge design that was noted by our fellow numismatist, between the
1850 and the 1857-1858 issues of the Onza.
The comparative mintage figures for the 1850 and 1857-1858 issues, all dated 1850, of
Onzas coins (respectively 522 and 16267 coins struck) are sufficient to explain the extreme
rarity of the former, and in turn the availability of the latter.
We may now dismiss the Meyer specimen as a true Proof coin: it is rather one of the very
few survivors of the 1850 issue of Onzas, which presently has a total of 3 known
specimens. Other will probably surface, the telling factor being the surfaces, and also, as
noted above, a distinctive edge design. This edge design will be helpful in distinguishing a
worn original 1850 Onza from a coin issued in 1857-1858.

de Costa Rica: sus primeras monedas de oro (1850-1864), Revista Herencia 21(1): pages 89-120, 2008.
16
Murillo, op. cit., page 84-85.

Figure 13: receipt from the Royal Mints engraver Benjamin Wyon, settled on
November 29, 1850, which included the new dies for the silver and gold coins of Costa
Rica, struck beginning in 1850, and also a collar for each one of the proyected
denominations17.

17

Murillo, op. cit., page 77.