 Confederation. 8 Escudos, 1842 R. La Rioja. Uniformed bust l. of General Juan Manuel de Rosas with the honorific title Restorer of the Laws. Rosas was the first Argentine military dictator who ruled with an iron fist from 1829 to 1852. Rv. Arms, titles REPUB. ARGENT. CONFEDERADA, Confederated Argentine Republic. Coarse diagonal reeding occupies the edge of this rare one-year type. Fr.10, KM 4, Calico Onza 1694.
Rosas (1793-1877) was one of the most ruthless early Latin American dictators. A Porteño, or native of Buenos Aires, he was fanatically determined to create and maintain by force a loose Confederation of Argentine provinces, rather than a tightly-knit unitary state dominated by the port city of his birth. He declared all Unitarios his mortal enemies and ended all state documents with the blood-thirsty slogan Mueran los Sauvages Unitarios, Death to the Unitary Savages. This cry was repeated throughout aspects of Argentine life under his regime, appearing incongruously even on tombstones. To this day, Argentines advocating authoritarian government are called Rosistas. Rosas was defeated in the Brazilian war in February 1852, fled into English exile and died there in 1877.
It is possible that only five examples of this coin exist today. The Ulex Collection Sale of 1908 was highlighted by an Extremely Fine specimen that reappeared in Stack's January 2004 Sale, realizing $40,000. A piece of measurably lesser grade piece appeared in Superior's December 1991 auction. None appeared in the Fonrobert, Rosa of Buenos Aires or Karon Collections; the great Waldo C. Newcomer Collection Sale of February 1935 offered only the 2 Escudos of this date. Close study of the present coin reveals faint smoothing on the portrait and in the field, with a fully original reverse. Some delicate lustre is found in the protected areas. Overall Extremely Fine or better. (Est. $25,000-$35,000)
Ex Louis E. Eliasberg Collection (American Numismatic Rarities, April 2005, lot 1011); previously in the John H. Clapp Collection.
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