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4 Reales - Philip IV
| Issuer | Casa de la Moneda de Potosí |
|---|---|
| Year | 1652 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| 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 | Cob |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Crowned Pillars of Hercules design, featuring two crowned columns rising from waves, with the motto 'PLVS VLTRA' displayed on a banner between them. The assayer's initial 'E' appears to the left and the denomination numeral '4' to the upper left of the columns, with 'IIII' visible to the upper right. Partial legend in Latin surrounds the design on the irregular cob flan. The reverse shows the characteristic bold but off-center strike typical of Potosí macuquina coinage of the mid-seventeenth century. |
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| Additional information |
This piece dates to 1652, the year of the infamous "fraud of Potosí" — one of the largest monetary scandals in Spanish colonial history. For years, mint master Francisco Gómez de la Rocha had been systematically debasing the silver content of cobs struck at Potosí, producing coins well below the mandated fineness. When the fraud was finally exposed, the Spanish crown recalled and demonetized enormous quantities of macuquerina coinage across the Americas and Europe, triggering a financial crisis that stretched from Lima to Seville.
Gómez de la Rocha was executed. Coins struck in the years immediately surrounding 1652 exist in a documentary gray zone — assayer attribution on surviving pieces from this period remains a persistent complication for specialists.