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8 Escudos - Fernando VII
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de Guatemala |
|---|---|
| Year | 1808-1817 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 27.0764 g |
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| Obverse description | Laureate and draped bust of Ferdinand VII facing right, rendered in high relief in the neoclassical style, with a laurel wreath tied at the nape with a ribbon bow. The peripheral legend reads FERDIN • VII • D • G • HISP • ET IND • R •, divided by the portrait, with the date 1817 positioned in the lower exergual area beneath the bust. The field is smooth and unadorned, directing full attention to the finely detailed royal effigy. A toothed border runs along the entire circumference of the coin. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | FERDIN • VII • D • G • HISP • ET IND • R • 1817 • (Translation: Fernando VII by the grace of God King of Spain and the Indies) |
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| Additional information |
Fernando VII never set foot in the Americas, yet coins struck in his name funded a colonial administration increasingly disconnected from its nominal sovereign. By 1808, Napoleon had forced Fernando's abdication at Bayonne, leaving Spanish colonial mints in the peculiar position of pledging allegiance to a captive king while the Peninsula burned. Guatemala continued striking in his name throughout the Peninsular War and into the early independence agitation that would eventually end Spanish rule in Central America entirely by 1821.
The Casa de Moneda de Guatemala, established in 1733, was the sole gold coining facility for the Captaincy General. KM#71 spans the assayer transition between M and M/G, a detail that separates early from late strikes within the type.