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!
4 Reales - Carlos III portrait
| Issuer | Lima Mint (Casa de Moneda de Lima) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1785-1789 |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | KM#77a |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central crowned shield of the Spanish royal arms, quartered with castles (Castile) and lions (León), with a small oval escutcheon at the fess point. The shield is flanked on either side by the Pillars of Hercules, each wrapped with a banner inscribed PLUS VLTRA, symbolizing Spain's dominion beyond the known world. The mint mark (L or LM for Lima) and assayer's initial appear to the left of the shield, with the denomination numeral 4 R also present. The surrounding legend reads HISPAN • ET IND • REX, all within a beaded border. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Carlos III's portrait coinage — the so-called "busto" series — replaced the older milled cob-style pieces across Spanish American mints following a royal decree of 1772, part of a broader Bourbon administrative push to standardize colonial silver. Lima was slower than Mexico City to fully implement the transition, and the overlap period produced considerable variation in die quality as local engravers struggled to match the portrait standards set by the Madrid prototypes.
The KM#77a designation covers a span of four years, during which Carlos III died in December 1788 — meaning some dies were still in use at Lima into early 1789 under his name while his successor Carlos IV was already on the throne in Madrid.