4 Real Spanish Mexico / Kingdom of New Spain (1519 - 1821) Silve ...

Mexico, Colonial Silver 4 Reales (½ Pillar Dollar) Coin.

Mint Year: 1741
Reference: 1741-MoMF, KM-94.
Denomination: 2 Reales (Quarter Pillar Dollar)
Assayers: Manuel de la Pena & Francisco de la Pena
Mint Mark: Mo (Mexico)
Weight: 13.31gm
Diameter: 33mm
Material: Silver

Obverse: Crowned Spanish coat-of-arms, assayers’ initials and value on either side.
Latin Legend: * PHILIP . V . D . G . HISPAN . ET IND . REX * / .MF* / 4
Expanded: PHILIP V DEI GRATIA HISPANIARUM ET INDIARUM REX
Translation: "Philip V by the Grace of God, King of the Spains and the Indies"

Reverse: Crowned hemispheres, set on Gibraltar, between crowned and banner-entwined pillars of Hercules. Waves below.
Latin Legend: VTRAQUE VNUM * Mo * I74I * Mo *
Translation: "On both sides / Unity"

Pillar coins were a great improvement over cobs in that they were of a uniform size and weight without cracks or uneven edges. They had a deep full strike with all information clearly visible and were difficult to clip or counterfeit. Denominations for this new coinage included the one half, one, two, four and eight reales coins.

Philip was the second son of Louis, le Grand Dauphin and Maria Anna of Bavaria, known as Dauphine Victoire. He was a younger brother of Louis, duc de Bourgogne and an uncle of Louis XV of France.

His paternal grandparents were Louis XIV of France and Maria Theresa of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria and Adelaide Henriette of Savoy, the daughter of Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy.

Philip helped his Bourbon relatives to make territorial gains in the War of the Polish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession by reconquering Naples and Sicily from Austria and Oran from the Ottomans. Finally, at the end of his reign Spanish forces also successfully defended their American territories from a large British invasion during the War of Jenkins' Ear.

During his reign, Spain began to recover from the stagnation it had suffered during the twilight of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. Ferdinand VI of Spain, his son by his first queen Maria Luisa of Savoy, succeeded him.

Philip was afflicted by fits of manic depression and increasingly fell victim to a deep melancholia. His second wife, Elizabeth Farnese, completely dominated her passive husband. She bore him further sons, including another successor, Charles III of Spain. He was later helped with his affliction by the castrato singer Carlo Broschi, famously known as Farinelli, who, for twenty years, sang the same four arias each night to the king before he went to sleep.

Philip died on 9 July 1746 and was buried in his favorite Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso.