Charles III half reales 

 by Brad Yonaka

Introduction

The milled columnario half real is one of five denominations of silver coinage produced by the Mexico City mint from 1732 to 1771. It was the smallest silver coin for its time from that mint, the quarter real only being struck for the first time in 1796. The milled half real was preceded by cob coinage (which overlaps to 1733), and followed by portrait-type milled coinage in 1772. The famous and symbolic pillar and globe design makes it highly collectible, at least as a type coin. Despite this, there is little information on mintages and an incomplete accounting of major varieties for the forty year span of issue.

In general, it can be said that production of half reales was for the most part stable, but fluctuated over periods of five or more years. An early pulse of mintage from 1734 to 1740 was followed by less production from 1741-1745. Then a period of increasing mintage from 1746-1758 (with the stark exception of 1756) and gradual decrease to very low mintages in 1766. Thereafter occurred another gradual increase to the end of the series.
The following table was compliled by Brad Yonaka.

The alpha-numeric sequence assigned to each type is per the system created by Gilboy^{Frank F. Gilboy, The Milled Columnarios of Central and South America. Regina, Canada: Prairie Wind Publishing, Inc., 1999.}), as this is by far the most comprehensive of all references. Cases where Gilboy) does not report the variety, I have assigned suffixes starting with the letter u, v, etc, and show the number sequence in red. I also show (where applicable) the number assigned by Cayon ^{Adolfo Cayon, Clemente Cayon, and Juan Cayon, Las Monedas Espanoles Volumen I – Del tremis al euro. Madrid, Spain: Cayon-Jano S.L., 2005}.

Rarity is taken from personal data on abundance of specimens. In most cases it correlates well with Gilboy in a relative sense, given that his database must have been many times larger. Where Brad Yonaka has not observed the variety, rarity is per that of Gilboy.

Gilboy # or (added)	Cayon#	Date	Assayer's Initial	Mint mark	Rarity*	Variety
Ferdinand VI died in July 1759 and Carlos III took the Spanish throne. The Mexico City mint, however, continued to strike coins in the name of Ferdinand throught the end of 1759 and the first part of 1760.
M-05-36	10248	1760	M		N	FRD VI
	Relatively uncommon date
M-05-36a	10247	1760/59	M		RRR	FRD VI, one year OD
	Gilboy notes this OD as very rare. One example observed, though OD was not noted in auction description.
M-05-37	11030	1760	M		C	CAR III
	Similar abundance to M-05-36
M-05-37a	11029	1760/59	M		RRR	CAR III, one year OD
			Extremely rare OD. Only one die pair observed.
(M-05-37u)	-	1760/50?	M		RR	CAR III, decade OD
			Unusual decade OD, showing a great deal of crude die reworking, resulting in a deeply repunched and poorly executed date, the only time I have seen this happen in the series. One die pair observed.
M-05-38	11039	1761	M		N	early style imperial crown on left pillar
	Common date.
M-05-38a	11038	1761/0	M		RRR	one year OD, A intrudes crown
	Very rare overdate, only one die pair observed.
M-05-38b	11039	1761	M		N	late style imperial crown on left pillar
		Scarce variety. During 1761 the imperial crown on the left pillar was redesigned (see example on left), with the old design lingering on examples into 1762. Cayon does not distinguish this design change.
M-05-39	11046	1762	M		C	large 2 in date
	One of the most common dates for Carlos III. The 2 in the date may have come from the punch set for the one real. Cayon does not distinguish the A and V overlap variety.
M-05-39a	11046	1762	M		N	A and V intrude reverse pillar crowns
					Reverse legend shifted closer to central design elements, causing both the A and V to overlap the pillar crowns. Also width of denticled border increases, which is generally the case through the end of the series.
M-05-39b	11046	1762	M		(R)	early style imperial crown on left pillar
	Gilboy notes this variety as rare. No observed examples.
(M-05-39u)	-	1762/1	M		RRRR	one year OD
	Not noted in references. Only one die pair observed. Exhibits a 2 in date that appears to be of correct size for the denomination.
M-05-40	11053	1763	M		C
	Common date for Carlos III. One observed reverse die with pellet between 7 and 6 of date.
M-05-40a	11052	1763/2	M		RR	one year OD
	Very rare overdate, only one reverse die observed. V intrudes right pillar crown reverse.
M-05-40b	11053	1763	M		RRRR	A and V intrude reverse pillar crowns
	Very rare variety exhibiting both the A and V intruding reverse pillar crowns. Gilboy, however, notes this variety as 'scarce'.
M-05-41	11059	1764	M		C	no pellet before CAR obverse
	Uncommon date for Carlos III. No listed varieties, several examples noted with pellet before CAR obverse (all others missing the pellet).
M-05-42	11065	1765	M		N
	Uncommon date. At least ne obverse die shared with 1764.
(M-05-42u)	11065	1765	M		RR	no pellet before CAR obverse
	Minor variety, not noted in references.
(M-05-42v)	-	1765/4	M		RRRR
			Variety noted in SCWC, not in Gilboy. Clear overdate, slightly offset. One observed example.
M-05-43	11070	1766	M		S
	Rare date, no listed or observed varieties
M-05-44	11074	1767	M		RR
	Rare date.
(M-05-44u)	-	1767	M		RRRR	six petal florets in obverse fields
	Vary rare variety. Not noted in references. Only one die pair observed.
M-05-45	11081	1768	M		N
	Uncommon date.
M-05-45a	-	1768/7	M		R	one year OD
			Noted as extremely rare by Gilboy. Can be difficult to differentiate between 8/7 and 8/6. Gilboy may have grouped most OD as 8/7, thus accounting for the high rarity he assigns to the 8/6. Only one reverse die observed, paired with two different obverse dies.
M-05-45b	11080	1768/6	M		RR	two year OD
	Rare date, three die pairs observed.
M-05-46	11086	1769	M		N
	Common date for Carlos III. No listed or observed varities.
M-05-47	11094	1770	M		C
	The most common date and type for Carlos III. Several obverse dies exhibit a broken R punch.
M-05-48	11095	1770	F		RR	Assayer's initial changed from M to F
	Rare type for year. Several obverse dies exhibit a broken R punch.
M-05-49	11102	1771	F		C
	Common date for Carlos III. Widest denticled border observed for series.

Rarity scale used, with the exception of those by Gilboy (shown in paratheses in table)