- The Practical Book of Cobs
infobox book
name=The Practical Book of Cobs
author=Daniel Sedwick and Frank Sedwick
subject=Spanish colonial coins
isbn=ISBN 9780982081808
publisher=D. Sedwick
imagecaption=20th anniversary edition coverThe Practical Book of Cobs is a reference book on Spanish colonial coins by Daniel Sedwick and Frank Sedwick. First published in 1987, the book has been rereleased three times, most recently in a twentieth-anniversary edition published in 2007.
"Scuba News" magazine described the book as "an essential guide and reference work for divers and shipwreck enthusiasts, with information that is not readily available or only available after searching many reference works or auction catalogs". ["The Practical Book of Cobs By Daniel Frank Sedwick and Frank Sedwick". "Scuba News" 7 (July 2008).]
This book covers the mints, assayers, styles, and types of treasure coins from the period 1536 at the Mexico City Mint until 1773, the end of cob type treasure coins minted at the Potosi Mint. In addition it has a section which goes over each of the most famous treasure wrecks of all time including the Atocha, 1715 Fleet and many others.
What is a Cob coin?
By reading the The Practical Book of Cobs we underestand that "cobs" are the original "treasure coins." Struck and trimmed by hand in the 1500s through 1700s at Spanish mints in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia (among others), silver and gold cobs are handsomely crude, nearly all with a cross as the central feature on one side and either a coat-of-arms (shield) or a tic-tac-toe-like "pillars and waves" on the other side. Silver cobs are known as "reales" and gold cobs are known as "escudos," with two 8 reales (about 27 grams each) equaling one escudo. Some cobs were struck with a date, and most show a mintmark and an initial or monogram for the assayer, the mint official who was responsible for weight and fineness. Size and shape were immaterial, which means that most cobs are far from round or uniform in thickness. Cobs were generally accepted as good currency all around the world, and were the exact coins pirates referred to as "pieces of eight" (8 reales) and "doubloons" (any gold cobs but originally 2 escudos).
Topics
* Historical background
* Elements of design
* Complete identification of mintmarks, assayers and periods
* How cobs were made and used
* Treasure Fleets and other shipwrecks that produced cobs
* How to buy and sell, and how to spot counterfeits
* Extensive bibliography
* Market valuesAwards
The Practical Book of Cobs, 20th Anniversary Edition, by Daniel Sedwick and Frank Sedwick was given an award for "Extraordinary Merit" in the Best Specialized Book category. Numismatic Literary Guild (Annual Writers' Competition 2008)
Other Sources on the topic and related books
8 Reales Cobs of Potosí by Emilio Paoletti (2008) (Editor and contributor : Daniel Frank Sedwick )
Standard Catalog of World Coins: Spain, Portugal and The New World, by Krause-Mishler (2002) (Contributor : Daniel Frank Sedwick )
Calbetó de Grau, Gabriel. 1970. Compendio de las Piezas de Ocho Reales. 2 volumes/tomos. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Ediciones Juan Ponce de Leon.
Bischoff, William, editor 1989. The Coinage of El Perú, New York: American Numismatic Society.
Cayón, Adolfo, Clemente Cayón and Juan Cayón. 1998. Las Monedas Españolas, Del tremis al euro, Del 411 a nuestros días. Madrid
Craig, Alan K. 2000. Spanish Colonial Silver Coins in the Florida Collection. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida.
Craig, Alan K, 2000. Spanish Colonial Gold Coins in the Florida Collection. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida.
Craig, Alan K and Ernest J. Richards, Jr. 2003. Spanish Treasure Bars From New World Shipwrecks. West Palm Beach, Florida: En Rada Publications (Ernest Richards).
About the Author
Daniel Frank Sedwick is an specialist in the colonial coinage of Spanish America as well as shipwreck coins and artifacts of all nations. Until early 1996, Daniel Frank Sedwick worked in partnership with the late Dr. Frank Sedwick, who became known as a pioneer in the field of Spanish colonial numismatics with his book The Practical Book of Cobs. The fourth (2007) and third (1995) editions of this well-known book were authored and co-authored by Daniel Frank Sedwick, who is also a contributing editor to The Numismatist (the monthly magazine of the American Numismatic Association) and the author of several articles. Sedwick is a member of the American Numismatic Association and Florida United Numismatists, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree (cum laude) from Duke University.
External links
* [http://www.sedwickcoins.com/pboc4.htm Official site]
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