1/2 Real - Carlos III portrait

Carlos III's portrait coinage — the "busto" type — replaced the earlier macuquina (cob) coinage across Spanish American mints as part of a deliberate modernization campaign begun in the 1730s. Lima was among the last major mints to fully convert. The half real denomination was the workhorse of small transactions across the viceroyalty, and these tiny pieces circulated hard into the Pacific coastal trade network, frequently turning up worn flat in hoards recovered from Peruvian coastal sites.

Carlos III died in December 1788, making the 1789 Lima strikes among the final coins bearing his portrait from this mint before the transition to Carlos IV types.