Carlos II, who ruled Spain from 1665 to 1700, was so physically and mentally debilitated by inbreeding — the culmination of nearly two centuries of Habsburg consanguineous marriage — that his reign saw the Spanish monetary system fall into prolonged disorder. The Madrid mint struggled through the 1680s with chronic silver shortages as bullion flows from the American colonies grew increasingly irregular and subject to piracy and contraband diversion.
Cal#694 is a tight attribution within Calicó's corpus, covering just this three-year window of Madrid production under the assayer whose mark distinguishes it from otherwise similar issues.
Carlos II, who ruled Spain from 1665 to 1700, was so physically and mentally debilitated by inbreeding — the culmination of nearly two centuries of Habsburg consanguineous marriage — that his reign saw the Spanish monetary system fall into prolonged disorder. The Madrid mint struggled through the 1680s with chronic silver shortages as bullion flows from the American colonies grew increasingly irregular and subject to piracy and contraband diversion.
Cal#694 is a tight attribution within Calicó's corpus, covering just this three-year window of Madrid production under the assayer whose mark distinguishes it from otherwise similar issues.