1 Escudo - Carlos IV

Carlos IV acceded to the Spanish throne in December 1788, and the Guatemala mint — one of the few operating gold facilities in Spanish Central America — was required to re-tool dies and begin striking in his name almost immediately. The 1789–1790 date range reflects exactly that transitional pressure: some dies were prepared before official portrait matrices arrived from Spain, creating minor assayer and design inconsistencies across the short run.

Guatemala City had relocated its mint following the catastrophic 1773 earthquakes that destroyed the old capital, Santiago de los Caballeros. The Nueva Guatemala facility was still consolidating operations through this period.