1 Octavo - Carlos III

The Manila Mint was established in 1766 specifically to address the chronic shortage of small change in the Philippines, where Mexican silver reales dominated trade but fractional copper coinage was nearly nonexistent. The octavo series was the mint's first sustained copper issue, intended to serve the everyday transactions that silver could not practically reach. Production was irregular throughout the 1773–1783 window, hampered by inconsistent copper supply and the administrative disruptions following the British occupation of Manila in 1762–1764, which had left the colonial monetary infrastructure in considerable disarray.

KM#3 specimens frequently show uneven planchet preparation — a documented characteristic of the Manila Mint's early copper work, not random wear.