6 Maravedis - Felipe IV countermark

The 1641–42 countermarking program was a fiscal stopgap born from Castile's chronic insolvency during the Thirty Years' War. Existing copper coinage was recalled, punched with a new value stamp, and reissued at an inflated face value — effectively a forced loan extracted from anyone holding coin. The Crown had run similar schemes repeatedly since Philip III's reign, and public trust in billon currency was already badly eroded by the time this resello was applied.

Countermarked pieces are frequently found on worn or irregular host coins, since condition of the host was irrelevant to the stamping operation.