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4 Reales - Felipe V
| Issuer | Casa de Moneda de México |
|---|---|
| Year | 1732-1747 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Central field bears the Royal Arms of Spain — a quartered shield displaying the castles of Castile and the lions of León, surmounted by an ornate royal crown — rendered in the early milled style. The mint mark 'M' and assayer initials 'MF' appear to the left of the shield, with the denomination numeral '4' to the right. Floral rosette stops punctuate the surrounding circumferential legend. The entire design is characteristic of the Mexican Pillar dollar series introduced under Felipe V. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The 1732 date marks a turning point in Mexican minting history: that year, the Mexico City mint introduced the milled "macuquina nueva" coinage to replace the cob-style pieces that had dominated Spanish colonial production for nearly two centuries. The 4 Reales denomination bridged the old hand-struck tradition and the fully mechanized milled coinage that would follow. Felipe V himself ordered the transition, partly in response to chronic fraud enabled by the irregular weight and shape of cob coinage.
The 1733 fleet disaster, in which a hurricane sank eleven ships carrying colonial silver off Florida, involved coins from this precise transitional period — recovered examples have appeared in auction with documented salvage provenance.