I see what you saying. And normally I'd never question a single thing you said. But to my knowledge, the only coins marked with VIII in the entire Great Shield era, and this coin has to be from that era, were the escudos starting with Charles II. And the VIII was placed vertically along side the shield line, not horizontally and across it. Like I said, something is not right here. And I've looked in every book I got.
Still learning here, but doesn't the diameter size and the weight actually mean more than what can barely be read anymore? The "Certification of Authenticity" (which, by the way was not bought off of eBay and have been in my mother's hands since November 1996) state that the coin weighs 25.9 grams or about 0.913 ounces. As it sits with the gold bezel, it weighs between 1.0 and 1.1 ounces. (Best I can do with the scale I have.) The coin is about 1.5 inches (3.5 centimeters) in diameter.
Lets say for right now, the point made by DCH is correct. Would the "O" still appear above the VIII designation? Because I can see where the VIII is proposed to be. I'm just a novice on these shipwrecked coins and only have but a few 8 reales. Never went into all the variations of them.
Here's an example of VIII with o above it: http://www.mcsearch.info/ext_image.html?id=163143 Cayon lists a 1621 Potosi 8 Reales, denominated as VIII, with a retrograde P mintmark. Same listing also has a reverse with castles and lions in reversed quadrants like the OP's coin. See next link: http://www.preciousmetaladvocates.c...69&parentid=&directoryid=&ctrl=productdetails What it doesn't mention is the mixed up castille/leon, naples, aragon arms on the obverse shield?
I am not sure what you mean by this, but it reminded me of something I read. On this web page: http://www.atochatreasurecoins.com/atochacoindesign.htm It has this text: "16. Lions and Castles – Found within the four quadrants of the cross and representing the regions of Castile and Leon. Their positions are sometimes transposed." The paragraph about "The cross on the reverse" has links to two different coins, the Greek cross and the Florenzada cross. The lions and castles are in different corners.