2 Reales - Felipe IV

Felipe IV's reign coincided with the slow unraveling of Spanish imperial finance — the Crown declared bankruptcy four times between 1627 and 1662, and the colonial mints were under constant pressure to maximize silver output rather than maintain quality. The Santafé mint, established in 1620 and drawing on silver from the Nuevo Reino de Granada, was among the less prolific of the American houses, which makes its cob issues from this period considerably scarcer than contemporary output from Potosí or México.

These macuquinas were struck by hand on irregularly shaped flans, and weight compliance mattered far more to assayers than planchet shape. The assayer's initial is the primary attribution tool for dating within this wide span.