4 Maravedis - Joanna and Charles I Countermarked star

The Canary Islands received no dedicated mint of their own during the Habsburg period. Chronic small-change shortages on the islands led local authorities to counterstamp existing Castilian copper — in this case, maravedís of Joanna and Charles already decades old by the time the star punch was applied. The countermark legitimized continued circulation at a revalued rate, a makeshift solution that was repeated across Spanish colonial territories wherever official supply couldn't keep pace with demand.

The star counterstamp program ran across a 22-year window, so attribution of individual pieces to a specific year is generally impossible.