1790 FM 8 Reales
Carolus IIII
Mexico City Mint
Mexico City officially startedmaking milled coinage in 1732. From 1732through 1771 the coins were called Pillar Dollars, recognized on one side,which I will call the obverse (front) by 2 Pillars with 2 globes in betweenthem. From 1772 onward Portrait 8 Realeswere minted.
Forthe years 1789 and 1790 there were two types of 8 Reales issued each year bythe Mexico City Mint. These years arereferred to as transition years.
CarolusIII died on December 14, 1788, with his son Carolus IIII becoming Kingimmediately thereafter. The Realesminted during the first part of 1789 continued on with Carolus III as Kingbecause the information of Carolus III’s death had not reached thecolonies. Later in the year 1789 thecolonies learned of Carolus III death, so they started minting 8 Reales recognizingCarolus IIII as king. Since they did notknow what he looked like, they continued using the portrait of Carolus III.
Thisfirst transition coin was minted as Carolus IV.This continued on into the first part of 1790, with coins minted in thesame fashion showing a portrait of Carolus III designated as Carolus IV.
Inthe latter part of 1790 the coin changed to Carolus IIII, but still showed aportrait of Carolus III.
Thetwo different 8 Reales minted in 1789 and two different coins minted in 1790 wereas follows:
1. 1789 identified as Carolus III with aportrait of Carolus III.
Thiswas the last coin of the period 1785-89 that had a silver purity of 89.6%.
2. 1789 identified as Carolus IV with a portraitof Carolus III.
Thiscoin and both varieties of the 1790 went back to having the silver purity levelof 90.3% which had previously been used starting in 1772 through 1784.
3. 1790 identified as Carolus IV with a portraitof Carolus III.
4. 1790 identified as Carolus IIII with aportrait of Carolus III, which is the coin currently being sold.
For the Portrait 8 Reales the practice at themint was to identify the assayers by placing the senior assayer’s initial firstand the junior assayer’s initial second when going around the coin clockwiseusing what we call “the first initial” in the United States of America.
In1790 the assayers were Francisco Arance Cobos (1777 into 1803) and Mariano Rodriguez(1784 into 1801).
In1790 the initials FM refer to these 2 assayers.
Forany collection of Milled Portrait Colonial 8 Reales from the Mexico City Mint,the 4 different coins issued during the 2 years 1789 and 1790 are a must have.
Thiscoin has an even dark gray toning on both sides. I bought it in July 2007 and it is time tosend it to a new home.
Thephysical appearance of a coin will differ depending on the type and intensityof the light under which we view the coin.I use a 100 watt incandescent light bulb at a distance of about 1 foot.
Sales Information
DOMESTIC SALES - FREE SHIPPING.
If you live in California, there is an8% Sales Tax
Tracking Numbers: I will post a tracking numberafter I ship to you.
If you are not in the US,contact me first.
has a whole system setup for the sale and protected international shipment of items. I will generallyfollow their rules, once I figure them out.They have a list of countries that are not covered by their shippingpolicies, which I will follow.Additionally, there are other countries to which I will not ship.
No sales to the following areas:
Africa, Asia-CHINA, India, the oldcommunist countries, plus some others. In South America, I will not sellto Chilebecause of a bad experience that cost me several hundred dollars.
Paypalprovides transaction security for the buyer (you) at no direct cost, andcharges the seller (me) 2.9% -3.9% of the total amount plus 30 cents to makesure that the funds paid by you are safely transferred to me.
Iwould appreciate your paying me in a timely fashion after the close of thesale.
Other Information
My shipment to you: The 8th largest city in the USA no longerhas a Post Office open after 5:00PM Monday through Friday. My mail route is “intransition” so I no longer have any idea who is going to be delivering my mail,or at what time of day. I am not goingto leave a $50-$500 coin outside to be picked up by whomever. Given all of this, if you win and pay for acoin this morning, it probably won’t be put in the mail this afternoon.
Returns:If you do not feel that this coin is “right for you” after you haveexamined it, send it back to me (at your expense). Return it at your convenience, preferablywithin 14 days. The shipping to you is at my expense for domesticshipping.
Please readeverything I have stated to you about this coin, if I have made any specificcomments about it. If you have someconcern about the coin that I did not explain to you in this listing, send anemail to let me know what your concern is.This is not some chunk of silver bullion. It is an old collector’s coin, and you and Iboth know, as coin collectors, that you really have to directly examine an oldcoin like this one to decide if you feel satisfied with what you got. After you have looked at it, if you decidethat it is “not for you”, you don’t have to list a bunch of reasons why youhave decided you do not want it. Justlet me know that you will be sending it back so that I will know to expect it. I have a lot of old 8 Reales. If for some reason we can’t get you to feelsatisfied with this coin, that doesn’t mean you won’t be happy with the nextone you win.
I want you to be satisfied with what you get.
I want to build a positive business relationship with you,not just “get a sale”.
