8 Escudos - Philip V Segovia, 1st type

Philip V — the first Bourbon on the Spanish throne — was still fighting to hold that throne in 1708, with the War of the Spanish Succession grinding through its seventh year. The Segovia mint, powered by its famous water-driven machinery on the Eresma River, was one of the few facilities capable of producing milled coinage at scale, and crown finances under wartime strain demanded every ounce of output the mint could sustain. The "1st type" designation distinguishes issues struck before the design revision that followed Philip's consolidation of control — placing this coin squarely in the period of genuine dynastic uncertainty.