Mint of Santiago de Chile

8-REALES PILLAR VARIANTS
MINT OF SANTIAGO

GENERAL DESIGN CONCEPT :

Obverse : Crowned hemispheres between crowned Pillars of Hercules. Inscription VTRAQUE VNUM (Union of two worlds), with mint marks at 4- & 8-o'clock, and year of mintage at the bottom.
Reverse : Crowned quarter arms of Castile and Leon bearing the Bourbon crest in center, "8" to the right and assayer's initial to the left. Inscription [monarch's name]·D·G·HISPAN·ET IND·REX* ([monarch's name], by the grace of God,
King of Spain and the indies/colonies).

Santiago is the capital of the province of Chile, which was part of the Vice-Royalty of El Peru (1700's). The mint of Santiago was actually producing the colonial coinage even if it was still not owned directly by the King of Spain. It started producing the Pillar 8R in 1751.

The coins have silver fineness of .916 (11 dineros). Average coin diameter is 37 mm.

Design Variation Concepts for Santiago Mint

YR/YR-AM-12

- the last two digit of the year appearing on the specimen. There are some cases where YR becomes YR/YR, and these are overstrikes. Example are specimen of 1756/5 overstrike.

- the assayer mark which appears on the reverse of the coin

-the monarch's name appearing at the reverse inscription (please note that there is NO "-1" variety, since that number is fixedly reserved for PHILIP V's specimens.)

2 : FERDINANDUS·VI

3 : CAROLUS·III

so_imcrown.jpg (9118 bytes)

-difference on the left imperial crown. There is a globe before the cross on the specimens of -3, while there is none on -31.

Among the Pillar coinage, the mint of Santiago that really differed from the main "FERDIN VI" spelling. Not only was the marginal inscription spelled as "FERDINANDUS", the letters are also smaller compared to the coins of the other mints. Consequently, the alignment of the tip of the crowned crest (on the reverse) is altered and does not follow the standard H-I or HI-S separations. There are a number of surviving Santiago forgeries whose design were derived from Lima specimens. All Santiago specimens used modern or arabic "5".

SUMMARY OF 8-REALES VARIANTS (Mint of Santiago)				No. of Variants
Variation Codes	Assayer	Left Pillar's Crown	Presence of a Small Globe before the cross on the Left Pillar's Crown	confirmed	un- confirmed
DEFAULTS:	.	royal crown	cross directly on top of crown
Ferdinand VI
51-J-2 to 58-J-2	J			4	5
Carlos III
60-J-3 to 63-J-3	J	imperial		2	1
64-J-31 to 67-J-31	J	imperial	small globe	3	1
68-A-31 to 71-A-31	A	imperial	small globe	3	1
TOTAL (4 Major Variations)-->				12	8

VARIANTS

Other No System

Sample Lot

Remarks

Elizondo

Calbeto

Patterson

Amat

51-J-2

DESIGN VARIATION CODE : -2

OBVERSE : "o" over S monogram mintmark

, "VTRAQUE" as one word; small main crown with no lower ellipse; royal crowns on both pillars. There are die variation on the placement of the tip of the left crown in relation to the inscription "VTRAQUE", as well as the prominence of the lower ellipse of the main crown. Modern or Arabic "5" is used.

REVERSE : inscription “FERDINANDUS·VI·D·G·HISPAN·ET IND·REX”, assayer mark “J”(small size); bottom 4-petal rosette.

Assayer "J": Jose Larraneta

1368

KM# 5. Also Lot#1 Henry Christiansen Sale 93. (similar coin as the Amat-65). Only one specimen (as above) is known to still exist and in Poor condition.

52-J-2

listed in KM. no actual confirmation

53-J-2

1369

in Calbeto. Tomas Dasi: Estudio de Reales de a Ocho.
Only one specimen (as above) is known to still exist and in XF-XF+ condition.

54-J-2

listed in KM. no actual confirmation

55-J-2

listed in KM. no actual confirmation

55/4-J-2

1370

Christiansen Parson Sale part III (3-9-1966). Similar coin also in Harris: "Pillars and Portraits".
About 5 to 10 specimens are known to still exist.

56-J-2

listed in KM. no actual confirmation

57-J-2

listed in KM. no actual confirmation

58-J-2

1374

Lot 551 Superior Dec-1990
About 10 to 15 specimens are known to still exist.

60-J-3

DESIGN VARIATION CODE : -3

OBVERSE : left crown pillar is of imperial type. The imperial crown is different from that of the other mint, as having a small globe before the top cross.
REVERSE : inscription “CAROLUS·III·D·G·HISPAN·ET IND·REX”

1376

KM# 18.
Only 2 specimens are known to still exist.

62-J-3

1377

Lot 621 Christie's Norweb collection Sale 1985.
Only one specimen (as above) is known to still exist and in Fine condition.

63-J-3

listed in KM. no actual confirmation

64-J-31

DESIGN VARIATION CODE : -31

OBVERSE : left crown pillar is of imperial type. The imperial crown has no small globe before the top cross.

1379

About 3 to 5 specimens are known to still exist.

65-J-31

1380

Randolf Zander collection
Only one specimen (as above) is known to still exist and in Fine condition.

66-J-31

listed in KM. no actual confirmation

67-J-31

1382

About 2 to 5 specimen are known to still exist.

68-A-31

Assayer "A": Agustin de Infante y Prado

1383

295

The Patterson Lot 295 realized US$5,625.- during the auction in Jul-1996 by Bonham. Lot 653 Iriarte
About 25 to 30 specimens are known to still exist.

69-A-31

1384

confirmed as ex-Dr. Gilbert Perez of Manila, Philippines.

70/69-A-31

Lot 1120 Christiansen Sale Dec-1982
Only one specimen (as above) is known to still exist and in about-Fine condition.

71-A-31

listed in KM. no actual confirmation