Amazing 8s -- Charles III Portrait 8 Reales 1772-1791
1789 Mexico City, ex Norweb

Owner Comments:

After the death of Charles III in December of 1788, the colonies experienced a delay in receiving the matrix blocks that provided the master design for new coins and the all important portrait of the successor monarch, Charles IV. Part of the reason for the delay may be attributed to Charles IV himself, an entirely lackluster leader, more interested in hunting than in the administration of his empire. Therefore, the overall design remained the same in 1789, some with the legend CAROLUS III and some, like this example, with the change of the legend to CAROLUS IV.

This coin was purchased on Ebay in December of 2010. It is pedigreed to the Norweb Collection and is noted as being ex Von Shuckman Collection and more recently ex Heritage Signature Auction #3009, Rosemont, IL, April 2010, lot# 22306.