2 Reales - Carlos IV

Carlos IV ascended the throne in December 1788, and this issue spans the entirety of his reign — a period defined less by the king himself than by the ministers and foreign pressures that governed in his name. Godoy's controversial alliance with Napoleon, the strains of near-continuous warfare with Britain, and the resulting disruption to silver shipments from the Americas all cut into production continuity across the colonial and peninsular mints striking this type.

The .806 fineness reflects a deliberate reduction from earlier Spanish silver standards, part of fiscal adjustments made under Charles III and carried forward — a quiet debasement that contemporaries rarely remarked upon but assayers tracked closely.