Catalog
4 Reales - Charles IV
| Issuer | Bolivia |
|---|---|
| Year | 1789-1790 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Crowned Spanish royal arms, displaying the quartered shield with castles and lions and the central oval escutcheon of the House of Bourbon, flanked by the Pillars of Hercules representing the Strait of Gibraltar, each pillar wound with a banner. The denomination mark 4R and assayer initial P appear to the left of the shield, with mint mark PTS (Potosi) and additional assayer letter to the right. The surrounding legend reads HISPAN ET IND REX, identifying the monarch as King of the Spains and the Indies. |
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| Additional information |
Charles IV acceded to the Spanish throne in December 1788, triggering a mandatory recoinage across all colonial mints to update the royal portrait. Potosí — the mint responsible for this piece — was among the slowest to transition, meaning the 1789–1790 window captures precisely that awkward interregnum when dies bearing the new king's name were cut before engravers had settled on a consistent effigy. KM#63 is accordingly short-lived as a type, superseded once Potosí's portrait coinage stabilized in the early 1790s.