Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
4 Reales - Charles III
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de Potosí |
|---|---|
| Year | 1773-1789 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | 32 mm |
| 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 | Laureate and draped bust of King Charles III facing right, rendered in the portrait style introduced by the milled coinage reform, with finely detailed hair tied with a ribbon at the nape. The circumferential legend reads CAROLUS·III DEI·GRATIA, interrupted by the regnal bust, with the mint date appearing in the lower exergual area. The toothed (milled) border frames the entire design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | 1773 JR - - 1774 JR - - 1775 JR - - 1776 JR - - 1776 PR - - 1777 PR - - 1778 JR - `JR NEX.` error - 1778 PR - overdate varieties exist - 1779 PR - overdate variety exists - 1780 PR - - 1781 PR - - 1782 PR - overdate variety exists - 1783 PR - - 1784 PR - overdate variety exists - 1785 PR - overdate variety exists - 1786 PR - overdate variety exists - 1787 PR - - 1788 PR - - 1789 PR - - |
| Additional information |
Charles III's colonial minting operation at Potosí ran under chronic pressure — the cerro rico mines were past their peak productivity by the 1770s, and the transition from the old macuquina (cob) coinage to the new milled portrait coinage had already generated one of colonial Spanish America's great scandals. In 1649, assayers had been executed for debasing the silver; the memory of that episode shaped Potosí's reputation for the remainder of the colonial period.
KM#54 belongs to the milled series introduced after the reforms of Philip V, completed at Potosí later than at other mints. The local assayer's initials appearing on these pieces were a legal accountability measure — the named official bore personal liability for fineness.