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!
1/4 Real - Philip II
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de Potosí |
|---|---|
| Year | 1574-1586 |
| 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 | 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) | MB#A1 |
| Obverse description | Central field occupied by a crowned shield of Castile bearing a triple-towered castle, surmounted by a royal crown. The mintmark 'P' (for Potosí) appears to the right of the shield, with the assayer's initial to the left. The legend, partially visible due to the irregular cob flan, runs around the periphery in Latin script. The overall design is characteristic of the macuquina (cob) coinage of the Spanish colonial mints, with the device struck on an irregularly shaped planchet. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field displays a quartered shield divided per pale and per fess, with the sinister half bearing a rampant lion passant guardant representing the Kingdom of León. The shield is surmounted by a royal crown and surrounded by a partial Latin legend around the cob flan's irregular periphery. The reverse design is characteristically bold in relief yet incompletely struck, consistent with hammered macuquina production techniques of the Potosí mint in the late sixteenth century. |
| 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 |
The Potosí mint opened in 1572, established specifically to process silver from Cerro Rico — the mountain that would eventually yield roughly half of all silver mined in the Americas during the colonial period. Quarter reales from this early cob coinage era were struck by hand using rough blanks cut from cast bars, with virtually no concern for uniformity. Many surviving examples are so poorly centered that attribution relies almost entirely on partial die elements.
The MB#A1 designation signals this is among the earliest documented types from the mint's first decade of operation.