4 Escudos - Carlos IV

Carlos IV inherited the Spanish throne in 1788, and the Mexican mint's production of his gold coinage spans nearly his entire reign — ending only when Napoleon forced his abdication in favor of Joseph Bonaparte in 1808. That political rupture severed the colonial minting system almost overnight. The 4 escudos denomination was the workhorse of high-value colonial trade, moving between merchants and treasury accounts rather than ordinary hands, which partly explains why circulated examples outnumber uncirculated survivors so decisively.

The Mexico City mint used assayers whose initials appear on each piece, and attribution to specific assayer pairs matters considerably for completeness collectors. The FM and TH assayer combinations bookend the series.