8 Escudos - Fernando VI

The "macuquina" gold coinage of colonial Mexico — crudely struck cobs produced by hammer rather than screw press — was still being phased out during Fernando VI's reign when this milled issue entered production. The transition was not purely aesthetic: Spanish authorities had grown frustrated that irregularly shaped cobs were routinely clipped, their gold shaved and the pieces passed at full face value. The milled coinage, with its reeded edge and precise dimensions, made such fraud immediately visible.

The Mexico City mint was the largest gold producer in the Spanish colonial world during this period, fed by the silver and gold flows of New Spain's mining districts.