The Avila mint's production of this type falls squarely within the most chaotic stretch of Enrique IV's reign — the years following the so-called Farce of Ávila in 1465, when Castilian nobles symbolically deposed him in effigy and crowned a rival king in his place. Monetary policy collapsed alongside royal authority, and mints across Castile issued debased billon coinage with little central oversight. The diamond-shaped quartering on this blanca is a direct response to that crisis: a visual assertion of legitimacy from a king whose legitimacy was openly contested.
AB#827 is documented with significant die variation across surviving specimens, a predictable consequence of decentralized striking during this period.
The Avila mint's production of this type falls squarely within the most chaotic stretch of Enrique IV's reign — the years following the so-called Farce of Ávila in 1465, when Castilian nobles symbolically deposed him in effigy and crowned a rival king in his place. Monetary policy collapsed alongside royal authority, and mints across Castile issued debased billon coinage with little central oversight. The diamond-shaped quartering on this blanca is a direct response to that crisis: a visual assertion of legitimacy from a king whose legitimacy was openly contested.
AB#827 is documented with significant die variation across surviving specimens, a predictable consequence of decentralized striking during this period.