Bernie M. asks: Can you please give me info on an 8 reales Peru 1676. Thank you.
In 1676, El Peru was all of present day South America minus Brazil. This vast area was under Spanish Rule. If I assume that the coin is from what is now the area of Peru/Bolivia, Potosà is the source of it (“P” mint mark in 1676). There were no “L”, Lima 8 reales struck in that year. So your coin was struck under Carlos II of Spain, has the “P” (PotosÃ) as the mint mark and the Assayer is “E” (Antonio de Ergueta).
8 reales from this period were struck on irregular shaped blanks that today are called “cobs” by English speaking collectors. This term probably comes from the Spanish that roughly describes how the flans were made, “cabo de barrra” or “end of the bar”. A heated silver bar of slightly more than 90% fineness was the source of the flans. A hunk of silver was cut off, weighed, shaved, until there was a blank of 27.03 grams. The blank was heated until soft to make the coin more receptive to a blow from the die. The finished coin is called a macuquina or alternatively macaco, macaca or moclón.
These are the days of intrinsic money so the weight and fineness had to be correct. The official stamp of the Government and the assayer’s initials certified that the macuquina was really 8 reales worth of silver. (If a coin was found to be underweight the assayer was in trouble – he was responsible for each coin struck under his authority.)
Value to a collector or dealer depends on the condition and how much of the important parts of the design are on the coin. The most important parts are the date (only the last two digits were punched into the die and it may appear on both sides), Assayer’s initial and mint mark.
Value Range: $200 – $350.
