Catalog
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de Potosí |
|---|---|
| Year | 1702-1728 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Real |
| 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) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Two crowned Pillars of Hercules flanking a central globe or waves motif, with the denomination numeral I (for 1 Real) visible at top center. The mint mark and assayer's initial appear in the field, with a date partially legible in the lower portion of the cross quadrant. The reverse follows the standard macuquina type for early 18th-century Potosí coinage, with the legend HISPANIARVM ET INDIARVM partially visible around the irregular periphery of the cob flan. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | HISPANIARVM ET INDIARVM |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Philip V inherited the Spanish throne in 1700 as the first Bourbon king, triggering the War of the Spanish Succession and throwing colonial minting operations into administrative uncertainty for over a decade. Potosí, already reeling from the 1652 fraud scandal in which assayers had systematically debased silver coinage for years, operated under heightened crown scrutiny throughout this period. The macuquina — cob coinage — produced here was notoriously irregular by design, hand-cut from cast silver bars and hammer-struck on unstruck planchets with no pretense of uniformity.
The assayer initial on the cross side remains the primary tool for dating individual pieces within this 26-year span.