8 Reales

Chile's early republican coinage was struck under chronic production difficulties — the Santiago mint suffered persistent shortages of skilled assayers and consistent silver supply throughout the 1830s and 1840s, resulting in notoriously uneven planchets and variable fineness across the run. Assayer initials on individual pieces are the primary tool for dating within the series.

These coins circulated widely beyond Chilean borders, accepted across the Pacific coast trade networks and into California during the gold rush years, where any silver of credible weight found ready use.