Catalog
1/2 Real - Carlos III
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de Santiago |
|---|---|
| Year | 1773-1789 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Reverse description | The crowned Spanish royal coat of arms occupies the central field, displaying the quartered escutcheon with the castles of Castile and lions of León, with a central inescutcheon bearing the Bourbon fleur-de-lis. The shield is flanked by the Pillars of Hercules, each surmounted by a crown, representing the Strait of Gibraltar. The partial legend HISPAN·ET IND·R (Hispaniarum et Indiarum Rex, King of the Spains and the Indies) surrounds the design, with the mint mark So and assayer initials DA visible in the field. |
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| Mintage | 1773 So DA - - 9,000 1775 So DA - overdate varieties exist - 65,000 1776 So DA - - 20,000 1777 So DA - - 20,000 1778 So DA - overdate varieties exist - 150,000 1779 So DA - overdate varieties exist - 49,000 1780 So DA - overdate varieties exist - 61,000 1781 So DA - - 71,000 1782 So DA - - 54,000 1783 So DA - - 54,000 1784 So DA - overdate varieties exist - 109,000 1785 So DA - overdate varieties exist - 80,000 1786 So DA - - 125,000 1787 So DA - overdate varieties exist - 79,000 1788 So DA - overdate varieties exist - 175,000 1789 So DA - Includes KM# 35 - 186,000 |
| Additional information |
Carlos III's colonial mints operated under the macuquina system well into the eighteenth century, but Santiago was among the first American mints ordered to transition fully to milled coinage — a reform driven less by aesthetics than by the crown's frustration with chronic short-weighting fraud on cob issues. The Santiago mint had received its screw presses decades earlier but conversion was uneven across denominations, and the fractional reales were consistently last to be standardized.
The KM#28 type spans the final sixteen years of Carlos III's reign, ending with his death in December 1788 — the 1789-dated pieces reflect posthumous striking under authorization already in place.