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Cuartillo - Felipe II
| Issuer | Casa de la Moneda (Royal Mint of Spain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1566-1598 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central shield bearing a rampant lion to the left, the heraldic emblem of León, surmounted by a royal crown. Mint marks T and M flank the shield within the field. The partial Latin legend HISPANIARVM REX runs around the periphery within a beaded border, identifying Philip II as King of the Spains. |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Felipe II inherited a monetary system badly strained by the flood of American silver that was simultaneously enriching the Crown and undermining the purchasing power of its base-metal coinage. The cuartillo, a small billon denomination, filled the gap between the copper maravedí coins and the silver reales that most ordinary transactions couldn't reach. Demand for fractional coinage in Castile was chronic throughout his reign, driven partly by the costs of maintaining the Army of Flanders and the domestic price inflation those same American metals caused.
Multiple Castilian mints struck this type across the thirty-two-year span — Segovia, Toledo, Burgos among them — and die quality varied considerably by facility.