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8 Reales - Philip IV
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de Potosí |
|---|---|
| Year | 1652 |
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| Composition | Silver (.931) |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Large crowned cross of Jerusalem potent in the central field, dividing the design into four quadrants. The cantons display alternating castles and lions in the Castilian-León heraldic tradition. Above the cross appears a royal crown, flanked by the denomination numeral 8 and two smaller crowns. The Pillars of Hercules are visible to the left, each surmounted by a crown, with the date 52 (for 1652) struck within a rectangular cartouche below the cross. A partial Latin legend runs along the outer beaded border on the irregular cob flan. |
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| Reverse lettering | HISPANIARVM REX |
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| Additional information |
This is almost certainly a macuquina — a cob coin — struck at Potosí before the 1652 scandal that shut the mint down entirely. That year, an investigation revealed that assayers had been systematically debasing the silver for decades, substituting copper to pocket the difference. The fraud implicated the assayer general Ramírez de Arellano and reached deep into the colonial administration. Philip IV ordered the mint sealed, all circulating Potosí cobs recalled, and a new coinage struck under tighter supervision.
Coins dated 1652 may predate the closure or emerge from its chaotic final weeks. Assayer attribution on cobs of this period is frequently ambiguous.