8 Escudos - Felipe V Seville, mintmark on obverse

Felipe V arrived on the Spanish throne in 1700 as the Bourbon claimant following the death of the heirless Carlos II, immediately triggering the War of the Spanish Succession. This coin was struck in 1701 — the year the Grand Alliance formally declared war against France and Spain — making it among the earliest gold coinage of the new Bourbon dynasty in Castile. The Seville mint, one of the primary recipients of American bullion, continued striking under the familiar Habsburg cob-style methodology even as the political order shifted entirely.

The macuquina fabric of these early Felipe V issues means the flan preparation and striking technique were inherited wholesale from the previous reign, with no immediate concession to the more refined milled coinage already standard in northern Europe.