2 Reales - Fernando VI

Fernando VI never set foot in the Americas, yet the Mexico City mint struck coinage in his name throughout his reign — a bureaucratic continuity that kept colonial silver flowing to Madrid while the king himself descended into catatonic grief following the death of his wife Barbara in 1758. He died the following year, having issued no further royal decrees.

The Mexico City cob-style milled coinage of this period fed directly into the global macuquina trade, with 2 reales pieces functioning as fractional units in transactions from Manila to Cádiz. The assayer marks on this type rotate through several known hands across the issue window, and attributing a specific piece to year requires cross-referencing the assayer initial against the mint's appointment records.