Catalog
8 Reales - Felipe IV
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de Santa Fe de Bogotá |
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| Year | 1651 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | The quartered royal arms of Castile and León displayed within a shield surmounted by a royal crown, with castles in the first and fourth quarters and rampant lions in the second and third quarters. The denomination mark VIII appears to the left of the shield in the field. A beaded inner border frames the central device, with partial Latin legend visible around the periphery on the irregular cob flan. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The Santa Fe de Bogotá mint was established by royal decree in 1620, making it one of the later Spanish colonial mints to open in the Americas. By 1651, it was producing macuquina — cob coinage — using silver drawn from New Granadan mines rather than the more famous Peruvian sources. Felipe IV's reign was plagued by continuous warfare in Europe, and colonial remittances were under constant pressure to fund campaigns in the Thirty Years' War and against Portugal, which had broken from the Spanish crown in 1640.
KM#7.1 distinguishes the Bogotá issue from contemporary Lima and Potosí strikes by assayer initial placement — a detail that still generates disagreement among specialists cataloging transitional dies from this period.