Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
8 Reales - Fernando VII Seville, 1st portrait
| Issuer | Royal Mint of Seville (Real Casa de la Moneda de Sevilla) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1808-1809 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 8 Reales |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Draped bust of Ferdinand VII facing right, depicted as a young man with curly hair, rendered in the neoclassical style characteristic of his first portrait type. The effigy shows the king with a lightly draped truncation at the shoulder. The circumferential legend reads FERDINANDUS VII · DEI · G · around the upper field, with the date 1808 positioned in the lower exergue flanked by pellets. The portrait is set within a fine beaded border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | FERDINANDUS VII · DEI · G · · 1808 · (Translation: Ferdinand VII, by the grace of God) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Fernando VII was proclaimed king in March 1808, but within weeks Napoleon had summoned him to Bayonne and coerced his abdication in favor of Joseph Bonaparte. The Seville mint, operating under the authority of the Supreme Central Junta after the French were driven from Andalusia, continued striking in Fernando's name as a deliberate political act — coinage functioning as a declaration of legitimate sovereignty against the intrusive Bonapartist regime in Madrid.
The "first portrait" designation distinguishes this type from later busts introduced as the war dragged on. Seville fell to French forces in February 1810, ending this specific issue abruptly.