8 Scudos

Bolivia's Potosí mint had operated under Spanish colonial authority for nearly three centuries before independence forced a rapid institutional reinvention. The 8 Escudos pieces struck here in the 1830s were produced on machinery and with practices little changed from the late colonial period, yet now bearing the insignia of a republic less than a decade old. Potosí's silver output was legendary, but gold coinage from this facility was always struck in far smaller quantities — the ore simply wasn't there in comparable volume.

KM#99 encompasses notable die variation across the decade-long span, and examples from the earlier dates within the range tend to command premiums driven by documented lower mintage figures rather than collector preference alone.