CARLOS III (1759-1788). 8 Escudos. (Au. 27.11g/36mm). 1767. Santa Fe of the New Kingdom. (Cal-2019-2087). Almost Extremely Fine. Nice specimen, scarce and more so.
Between 1672 and 1772, Mexico, Lima, Santa Fe de Nuevo Reino, Santiago de Chile, Guatemala, Madrid and Sevilla minted the famous Rat Face, one of the most iconic portraits of the engraver and medalist Tomás Francisco Prieto and of all Spanish numismatics and that appear between the modules between ½ and 8 Escudos. The mint of Lima was, together with that of Mexico, the most prolific in terms of minted pieces, also finding two subtypes of busts basically differentiated by the shape of the nose. With regard to the Colombian mint, despite having been operating since 1627, it was not until 1756 when the step was taken to what we can already consider an industrial minting of coins, coinciding with a change of building for the mint. The change meant the definitive end of the macuquina coin, not its circulation, and the introduction of the cord in all the pieces minted by this house. In the period between 1758 and 1771, gold coins were minted, in different modules, in 22 carats, and in a much higher proportion than silver minting. Just in the year 1771, the Real Decree of March 18 established the reduction of the gold and silver grade that would go from 0.916 to 0.875 and from 0.902 to 0.837 thousandths respectively.
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