 Republic. 8 Escudos, 1823 Mo JM. Hook-neck eagle and snake on cactus, REPUBLICA MEXICANA. Rv. Hand holds Liberty Cap over Book of Laws, LA LIBERTAD EN LA LEY, Liberty in Law. Type I obverse is identified by the tip of the cap pointing to 'A' in LIBERTAD, curled tail on the eagle identifies Reverse Type I of this rare and historic design, which gained its name from the configuration of the eagle's neck. Fr.63, KM 382.1. Of the greatest historical importance and of simply outstanding rarity.
This first coinage of the Republic shows a side view of the eagle, dropped almost immediately in favor of the facing eagle with snake crossing its breast that endured into the 20th century. As far back as Henry Chapman's cataloguing of the 1921 John Story Jenks Collection, the Hook-neck type was already a legendary rarity, and Chapman characterized the Jenks example as ''excessively rare, the only example I have seen in 45 years in this business.'' The Newcomer example was described as Extremely Fine; the coin offered here is a substantially higher grade example that outstrips the Norweb coin and equals the general quality of the Gerber specimen. Brilliant Uncirculated or somewhat finer, a coin of legend. (Est. $35,000-$45,000)
Ex Louis E. Eliasberg Collection (American Numismatic Rarities, April 2005, lot 3256); previously in the John H. Clapp Collection.
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