Catalog
8 Escudos - Charles IV
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de Potosí |
|---|---|
| Year | 1789-1790 |
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| Currency | Real (1574-1825) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | The quartered royal arms of Spain — displaying the castles of Castile, lions of León, fleurs-de-lis of the Bourbon dynasty, and the chain of Granada — surmounted by a large ornate royal crown, the whole shield encircled by the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece with the suspended fleece pendant at the base. The denomination numeral 8 appears to the left of the shield and the assayer initial S to the right, with the mint mark PTS (Potosí) and assayer PR flanking the Golden Fleece at the bottom. The surrounding legend IN · UTROQ · FELIX · · AUSPICE · DEO · runs along the periphery within a toothed milled border. |
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| Additional information |
Charles IV ascended the Spanish throne in December 1788 following the death of his father Charles III, creating a transitional window during which both monarchs' effigies appeared on coinage struck in the same fiscal year. The Potosí mint, operating at over 4,000 meters elevation in present-day Bolivia, was among the first New World mints to receive the order to update dies — yet the transition was never clean. The 1789-1790 dating on this type reflects precisely that administrative lag between Madrid's decree and the physical reality of die cutting in the Andes.
Potosí's assayer marks during this period carry genuine documentary weight for attribution purposes.