Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1/2 Real - Carlos IV
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de Guatemala |
|---|---|
| Year | 1791-1807 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Milled |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Laureate and draped bust of King Carlos IV facing right, rendered in the Spanish colonial portrait style. The king's hair is tied at the nape and adorned with a laurel wreath, and the truncation of the bust shows a draped shoulder. The circular legend CAROLUS IIII DEI GRATIA runs around the periphery, interrupted at the base by the mint date 1807. The portrait occupies the majority of the coin's field, with a compact, high-relief design characteristic of late 18th-century Guatemala Mint coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | CAROLUS • IIII • DEI • GRATIA • 1807 • (Translation: Carlos IIII by the grace of God) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Guatemala's half real of this period was produced at the Santiago de los Caballeros mint — one of the few New World mints authorized to strike the small silver denominations that dominated everyday colonial commerce. The fractional reales circulated hard through local markets, changing hands for basic goods at a rate that destroyed most examples well before independence movements disrupted the colonial monetary apparatus entirely.
The assayer initial present on a given coin anchors it to a specific period within the 1791–1807 run and can meaningfully narrow the date range on otherwise undated-looking pieces.