Catalog
| Issuer | Casa de la Moneda de Potosí |
|---|---|
| Year | 1596-1618 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Real (1574-1825) |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | PHILIPPVS III D G |
| 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 | ND (1596-1603) - B (Áureo & Calicó# 402) - ND (1612-1616) - Q (Áureo & Calicó# 408) - ND (1616-1617) - M (Áureo & Calicó# 412) - ND (1617-1618) - PAL (Áureo & Calicó# 414) - |
| Additional information |
Philip III inherited the Potosí mint at the height of its output — Cerro Rico was producing roughly half the world's silver in the late sixteenth century, and cobs like this one were the unglamorous workhorses of that torrent. Cut from a cast bar, hammered between crude dies, and clipped to approximate weight, macuquinas were never meant to be pretty. They were meant to move money across an ocean.
The assayer responsible for each cob struck his initial into the die, creating accountability within the mint — a system that would later expose the catastrophic fraud uncovered at Potosí in 1649, after Philip III's reign had already ended.