143, Lot: 304. Estimate $200. Sold for $343. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BOLIVIA. Charles III. 1760-1788. AR 8 Reales (39mm, 27.20 g, 12h). “Pillar Dollar”. Potosi mint; m.m. PTS monogram; assayers J R (J for Jose de Vargas y Flores (1767-1773) and R for Raimundo de Iturriaga (1767-1795). Dated 1768. Crowned royal coat-of-arms; assayer’s initials at left; denomination at right; rosette of four petals beneath shield / Crowned Hemispheres between crowned pillars of Hercules inscribed PLVS ULTR; date beneath. KM 50. Good VF, surface marks from cleaning, a fairly rare variety of a scarce mint.

Many dealers and some cataloguers list Pillar Dollars as though the pillar side were the obverse. Spanish royalty would not have approved of this, but even the most technically minded collectors display their collections pillar side up.