The Viceroyalties of Peru and New Spain

Triton XIV, Lot: 1464. Estimate $2000. Sold for $4000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

VIRREINATO DEL PERÚ, Bolivia. Felipe IV. King of Spain, 1621-1665. AR Cob 8 Reales. Potosí mint; Antonio de Ergueta, assayer. Dated 1654P E. PHILIPPVS · III[I · D G ·] HISPANIARVM · R, cross of Jerusalem over coat-of-arms of Spain; above, crown above ·8· (denomination); ·/P/· to left, ·/E/· to right, 1654 below / · POTOSI · ANO · 1654 · EL · PER ·, crowned composite columns set on ocean waves; crown above; ·PH·/P-·8·-E/PLV-S VL-TRA (further beyond)/E-54-P in four lines across field. ME 6567; Calicó 413; KM R21. In NGC slab graded VF Details, holed. Rare.

From the Patrick H.C. Tan Collection. Ex Heritage 458 (6 January 2008), lot 50281.

Following their colonization of many parts of the new world in the early sixteenth century, Spain realized the difficulty in the administration of these colonies, thereby creating the need for a system of viceroyalties in which the territories could be governened locally, yet still under the authority of the crown. The first of these two major divisions, the Virreinato de Nuevo España (Viceroyalty of New Spain) was created after the defeat of the Aztec Empire in 1521, and, at its height, included present-day Mexico and Central America, as well as the majority of western America. The second, the Virreinato del Perú (Viceroyalty of Peru) followed shortly thereafter with the defeat of the Inca Empire in 1542 and, similarly, at its height, included most of present-day South America. These viceroyalties continued to grow during the next two centuries, both in terms of population and economic wealth for the mother country, which served as an increasing disconnect between the crown and her possessions. This, along with growing tensions with neighboring European powers, led to the Bourbon reforms of the eighteenth century, which saw the creation of two smaller viceroyalties from what originally comprised of Peru. New Spain, though neither fractured nor downsized, also became further separated from the crown. After the French Revolution and the even closer Revolution in the American colonies, nationalism became an important focal point for the vast territorial holdings of Spain and, during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, various uprisings and rebellions caused these connections to come to an end, resulting in a host of newly independent nations in the western hemisphere and serving as one additional step in the movement of independence and ushering out colonialism along with it.