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8 Reales - Philip IV
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de Potosí (Spanish Colonial) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1625-1648 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Real (1574-1825) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | PHILIPPVS IIII D G HISPANIARVM ET INDIARVM REX |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | 1625 P P - - 1626 P P - - 1626 P T - reported, not confirmed - 1627 P T - - 1628 P T - overpunch variety exists - 1629 P P - - 1629 P T - - 1630 P T - - 1631 P T - - 1632 P T - - 1633 P T - - 1634 P T - - 1635 P T - - 1636 P T - - 1636 P TR - - 1637 P TR - - 1638 P TR - - 1639 P TR - - 1640 P FR - - 1640 P TR - - 1641 P FR - - 1642 P FR - - 1643 P FR - - 1643 P T - - 1643 P TR - - 1644 P FR - - 1644 P T - - 1644 P TR - - 1645 P R - overdate variety exists - 1645 P T - - 1645 P T - `16455` date error - 1645 P TR - - 1646 P P - reported, not confirmed - 1646 P R - reported, not confirmed - 1646 P T - - 1646 P V - overpunch variety exists - 1647 P P - unique - 1 1647 P T - - 1647 P TR - - 1647 P Z - - 1648 P T - - 1648 P Z - overpunch variety exists - |
| Additional information |
The Potosí mint sat at 4,090 meters above sea level, making it the highest operating mint in the Spanish colonial world, fed entirely by the Cerro Rico silver mountain above the city. During Philip IV's reign, the assayers at Potosí were caught falsifying fineness — the so-called "fraud of the assayers" scandal, uncovered around 1649, revealed that millions of underweight and debased macuquinas had been entering global trade for decades. Coins from precisely this date range are the ones implicated.
The crown's response was a complete suspension of the mint and criminal prosecution of the assayers involved. Pieces struck in the years immediately preceding 1649 carry the assayer mark of Juan Rodríguez de Rodas, whose initials appear on the most heavily scrutinized examples.