2 Reales - Philip V Madrid, portrait

Philip V's early coinage reflects the turmoil of the War of the Spanish Succession, still raging in 1709 — the year Louis XIV nearly sued for peace after the catastrophic French defeat at Malplaquet. The Madrid mint continued striking portrait-type reales throughout this period despite severe financial strain on the Bourbon war effort, partly to assert dynastic legitimacy against the rival Habsburg claimant Charles III, who controlled his own mints in Catalonia and Valencia.

Cayon's cataloguing of this type under Cal#1239 places it among the early Madrid portrait issues before the macuquina coinage was formally suppressed in 1728.