Bolivia 1817-PTS PJ 4 reales
This specimen was lot 75170 in Stack's Bowers June 2026 World Premier Collectors Choice Auction (Costa Mesa, CA, June 2026), where it sold for $109. The catalog description[1] noted, "BOLIVIA. 4 Reales, 1817-PTS PJ. Potosi Mint. Ferdinand VII. PCGS Genuine--Corrosion Removed, AU Details. From the Richard August Collection." Assayer PJ is recorded for 1803-24. This type was struck 1816-25. The mint was in the hands of the Argentine rebels 1810-13 and the production of royalist four reales did not resume until 1816. Harris[2] notes that Potosi four reales of Ferdinand VII are the third commonest mint after Mexico City and Lima. By 1817, the royalists had resumed their firm grip on Upper Peru which they held until 1825. Only the final crushing defeat of Spanish forces outside Lima prompted the local chiefs to declare independence and then only to avoid incorporation into Peru or Argentina.
Recorded mintage: 33,000.
Specification: 13.54 g, 0.896 fine silver.
Catalog reference: Cayón-15728, KM-88; Cal-1100.
- Cayón, Adolfo, Clemente Cayón and Juan Cayón, Las Monedas Españolas, del Tremis al Euro: del 411 a Nuestros Dias, 2 volumes, Madrid: Cayón-Jano S.L., 2005.
- Calicó, Xavier, Numismática Española: Catálogo General con Precios de Todas las Monedas Españolas Acuñadas desde Los Reyes Católicos Hasta Felipe VI, 1474 a 2020, Barcelona: Aureo & Calicó, 2019.
- [2]Harris, Robert P., Pillars & Portraits, San José, CA: Bonanza Press, 1968.
- Janson, Hector Carlos, La Moneda Circulante En El Territorio Argentino, 1767-1998, Buenos Aires, 1998.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, June 2026 World Premier Collectors Choice Auction - Selections from the L.E. Bruun Collection, the Richard Margolis Collection and the Kirk Menczer Collection of Republican Reales Minors, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2026.
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