2 Reales - Carlos IV

Carlos IV was proclaimed king in December 1788 following the death of his father, Carlos III, but the news took months to reach Guatemala City. Coins bearing both regnant years — 1789 and 1790 — reflect the transitional period during which the Casa de Moneda was still working through dies prepared under the old reign while simultaneously cutting new ones. The Guatemala mint was one of the slower colonial facilities to fully transition between monarchs, and crossover issues from this window are consistently underrepresented in major collections.

KM#43 represents the milled coinage tradition established at Guatemala decades earlier — distinct from the cob-cut macuquinas it replaced.