MINT MUSEUM'S II - SILVER COINS SETID92957033
In 2023, a new series of collector coins called ‘Jewels of the Mint Museum’ was launched. In 2025, the Royal Mint is putting the second series of these numismatic gems into circulation, which can be admired in our Museum.
This collection consists of the three silver coins chosen for this series, all of which are unique pieces in our Museum.
8 reales 1673 Charles II, minted at the Potosí Mint.
8 reales 1737 Philip V, minted at the Mexico Mint.
8 reales 1772 Charles III, minted at the Mexico Mint.
| Series | Jewels Of The Casa De La Moneda Museum |
| Denomination | 8 Reales |
| Year | 2025 |
| Quality | Proof |
| Alloy (‰) | 925 |
| Metal | Silver |
JEWELLERY MUSEUM II - SILVER COIN COLLECTION
8 reales 1673 Charles II Potosí. This 8 reales coin belongs to a type of hammer-struck coinage, but special ones called ‘galanos’. According to historian Glenn Murray, these coins were minted in the mints of Mexico, Lima and Potosí, with great care and in round blanks to meet the demand of silver merchants, who sold them to their select clientele. They were very different from ordinary coins, round, with the types and legends intact, often with a hole in the top because they were used as pendants. They are usually found in excellent condition. The obverse features a quartered coat of arms with castles and lions on a four-lobed border with a crown, the mint mark P (Potosí) to its left, the assayer's mark E to its right, the abbreviated date 673 below, and the circular inscription: CAROLVS·II·DG· HISPANIARVM·REX (Charles II, by the Grace of God, King of Spain). On the reverse side are the columns of Hercules on waves, to the left, between them: P (mint mark, Potosí) - 8 (value) - E (assayer's mark: Antonio Ergueta) / PLV – SVL - TRA / E - 73 - P and the circular legend: POTOSI·ANO·1673·EL·PERV (same meaning as the last horizontal line). Diameter: 41.95 mm; weight: 25.7 g.
8 reales 1737 Felipe V Mexico. Known as the Spanish dollar, the eight reales coin popularly known as the ‘columnario’ was the most important coin of its time, used around the world for both trade and everyday transactions. By virtue of a royal order of 1728, coinage by flywheel press was implemented in order to obtain uniform round coins and leave behind the manufacture of macuquina coins by hammer. In 1732, the first Mexican columnario coin was minted, named for its reverse design featuring the Pillars of Hercules on waves flanking two crowned hemispheres and the legend: +VTRAQUE VNVM+MO/1737/+MO. Our coin is from 1737. On the obverse, it bears the royal coat of arms with quartered castles and lions and the Bourbon escutcheon. To its left is the assayers' mark ‘MF’ (Manuel de León and Francisco de la Peña y Flores), and to its right is the value mark ‘8’ and the legend: +PHILIP· V·D·G·HISPAN·ET IND·REX.
8 reales 1772 Carlos III Mexico. One of the first 8 reales coins produced after the monetary reform of 1771, which involved changing all the denominations of coins in Spain and America and introduced the portrait of the monarch on silver and copper coins. It also established distinct types for the so-called ‘provincial silver’, reales that circulated on the peninsula made of lower-grade silver than the so-called ‘national silver’ or ‘thick silver’ minted in America for overseas trade. These types were designed by the founder of the Casa de la Moneda Museum collection and General Engraver of the Mint, Tomás Francisco Prieto. The obverse shows the bust of the monarch with a heroic cloak and laurel wreath, and the legend: CAROLUS·III· - DEI·GRATIA / 1772. The reverse shows the crowned coat of arms quartered by castles and lions flanked by the Pillars of Hercules, which were distinctive of the aforementioned ‘national silver’, with the legend: · HISPAN·ET IND·REX/·MO· (Mint of Mexico) / 8R /·M·F· (assayers: Manuel de la Rivera and Francisco Antonio de la Peña). Diameter: 41.47; weight: 26.8 g.