1/2 Real - Carlos III

The 1772 date marks a watershed in Mexican colonial coinage: that year, Carlos III mandated the switch from the cob ("macuquina") format to the new milled coinage, ending nearly two centuries of hand-struck production at the Mexico City mint. The transition was not merely aesthetic — it was an imperial accounting measure, driven by chronic fraud in the old cob system, where clippers and dishonest assayers had been skimming silver for generations.

The FM assayer mark appearing on pieces from this period belongs to Francisco de la Peña Flores, active at the Mexico City mint through the 1780s.