Catalog
8 Reales - Ferdinand VII
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de Potosí |
|---|---|
| Year | 1808-1825 |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Obverse description | Laureate and draped bust of King Ferdinand VII facing right, hair tied at the nape with a ribbon, rendered in the so-called 'imaginary portrait' style characteristic of Potosí coinage of this period. The circumferential legend reads FERDN . VII . DEI . GRATIA . with the date 1822 positioned in the lower exergual area. A fine toothed border frames the entire design. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Ferdinand VII never set foot in the Americas, yet his effigy was struck at Potosí throughout his reign — including the years 1808 to 1814 when he was Napoleon's prisoner at Valençay and not meaningfully king of anything. The Potosí mint, operating at over 4,000 meters altitude in what is now Bolivia, continued producing in his name through the entire independence war convulsing the Río de la Plata region around it.
The series ends in 1825, the year Bolívar's forces consolidated control of Upper Peru and the new republic of Bolivia was proclaimed — ending nearly three centuries of Spanish minting at the site.