1 Real - Carlos I

These are among the earliest coins struck in the Americas. The Mexico City mint — established by royal decree in 1535 — began production the following year, making this issue part of the absolute first output of the first mint in the Western Hemisphere. Carlos I was Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and the coins were authorized under his combined rule of Spain and its colonial territories.

Early pieces from this run are notoriously irregular in flan preparation, a consequence of the mint still developing its casting and cutting procedures. The 1536–1541 window predates the systematic cob-style production that would later define colonial Mexican silver.