Charles V Real

Charles V's Real coins were minted with silver plundered from the Americas, directly fueling his endless wars across Europe and beyond.

That silver came from places like Potosí, where indigenous labor extracted it under harsh conditions, making each coin a tangible link to colonial exploitation. These pieces, typically valued at one real, featured Charles's bust or the imperial arms, depending on the mint—Seville or Mexico City, for instance. Variations in design reflected his dual crowns as Spanish king and Holy Roman Emperor, though the quality often suffered from rushed production.

We don't know exact mintages; records from that era are spotty at best. As for myths, I've heard tales of these coins being cursed by Aztec priests—nonsense, of course, though they did circulate widely and wear down quickly in the pockets of soldiers and merchants.

Some variants show overstrikes from earlier monarchs, a thrifty habit of the mints.