8 | Felipe V (1700-1746)

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PHILIP V (1700-1746). 8 Reales. (Ar. 26.91g/39mm). 1733. Mexico F. (Cal-2019-1435). MX mint mark. Encapsulated by NGC UNC DETAILS. Two cross-shaped stripes on the reverse. Precious and extremely rare specimen, even more so in this spectacular quality, conserving traces of its original shine and light iridescent patina.

Ex Áureo & Calicó 317, Gaspar Portolá Collection 10/17/2018, Lot No. 1.

Although it is not in the columnar coins where we can see the mint of Mexico denominated for the first time as MX (a similar episode already occurred at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th), it is striking to see how in some of the pieces minted in 1733 they replaced the traditional M mark circled above for MX. The explanation given by Jorge A. Proctor in his article "The MXo and MX variations in the Mexican Mint Mark" seems to us the most sensible, documented as well as simple: everything was due to a mistake by Spain. From the metropolis it was thought that the mint mark for silver was MX and with this mark it sent the dies. When they arrived in Mexico, they warned of the error and that the correct mark was the Mo, Spain recognized the error, changed the mark for the successive dies but forced to use the erroneous ones already sent, hence we find copies with this peculiar brand. But there is another aspect to highlight in these first Mexican mintings: and it is that we can find them with one and two assayers since we are just at the moment in which the law changes that requires, from now on, the appearance of the initial of a second tester.