Catalog
8 Reales - Philip II
| Issuer | Casa de la Moneda de Potosí |
|---|---|
| Year | 1574-1586 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field bears a bold floriated cross potent with lions and castles alternating in the four quadrants formed by the cross, the whole enclosed within a quadrilobe or tressure. A wreath or decorative border surrounds the central cross design. The partial circular Latin legend HISPANIARVM ET INDIARVM REX runs around the periphery within a beaded border, though portions are characteristically lost to the irregular shape of the hammered cob flan. The overall striking is typical of the macuquina technique, showing the characteristic irregular planchet and variable surface texture of colonial Spanish silver coinage. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Potosí's Cerro Rico — the "rich hill" — was supplying roughly half the world's silver by the 1570s, and this coin moved through global trade circuits that no European mint could match in volume. The Manila Galleon trade sent pieces-of-eight directly from Acapulco to Chinese merchants who accepted little else; by the late sixteenth century, Spanish colonial silver had become the closest thing to a world reserve currency.
The Potosí mint operated under chronic quality control failures throughout Philip II's reign. An infamous fraud scandal in the 1640s — decades later, but rooted in practices established in this period — revealed that assayers had been systematically debasing the silver. These early cobs were cut and hammered by hand, making weight and fineness the only real guarantees of value.