1/2 Real - Carlos IV

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.