Philip V half reales

by Brad Yonaka

Introduction

The milled columnario half real is one of five denominations of silver coinage produced by the Mexico City mint from 1732 to 1771. It was the smallest silver coin for its time from that mint, the quarter real only being struck for the first time in 1796. The milled half real was preceded by cob coinage (which overlaps to 1733), and followed by portrait-type milled coinage in 1772. The famous and symbolic pillar and globe design makes it highly collectible, at least as a type coin. Despite this, there is little information on mintages and an incomplete accounting of major varieties for the forty year span of issue.

In general, it can be said that production of half reales was for the most part stable, but fluctuated over periods of five or more years. An early pulse of mintage from 1734 to 1740 was followed by less production from 1741-1745. Then a period of increasing mintage from 1746-1758 (with the stark exception of 1756) and gradual decrease to very low mintages in 1766. Thereafter occurred another gradual increase to the end of the series.
The following table was compliled by Brad Yonaka.

The alpha-numeric sequence assigned to each type is per the system created by Gilboy^{Frank F. Gilboy, The Milled Columnarios of Central and South America. Regina, Canada: Prairie Wind Publishing, Inc., 1999.}), as this is by far the most comprehensive of all references. Cases where Gilboy) does not report the variety, I have assigned suffixes starting with the letter u, v, etc, and show the number sequence in red. I also show (where applicable) the number assigned by Cayon ^{Adolfo Cayon, Clemente Cayon, and Juan Cayon, Las Monedas Espanoles Volumen I – Del tremis al euro. Madrid, Spain: Cayon-Jano S.L., 2005}.

Rarity is taken from personal data on abundance of specimens. In most cases it correlates well with Gilboy in a relative sense, given that his database must have been many times larger. Where Brad Yonaka has not observed the variety, rarity is per that of Gilboy.

Gilboy # or (added)	Cayon#	Date	Assayer's Initial	Mint mark	Rarity*	Variety
M-05-1var		1732			S	no assayer's initial
	Type struck without placing assayer initials or mintmark on coin. Gilboy postulates that this type was struck from trial matrices sent from Spain. A significant number of examples have been observed, many more than would be expected for a type considered to be extremely rare. The importance and novelty of the coin may explain why so many are preserved and have appeared in auction. Three of the obverse dies, and two reverse dies, are exhibited solely by examples residing in the Banco de Mexico collection.
M-05-1	8229	1732	F		(R5)	chief assayer's initial only
	ype not observed. Gilboy classifies type as extremely rare.
M-05-2	8230	1732	MF		RRRR
	One die pair observed. A curious variety, considering that the assayer M (Manuel de León) only began work at the mint in 1733.
M-05-3	8237	1733	F		(R5)	chief assayer's initial only
	Type not observed. Gilboy classifies type as extremely rare.
M-05-4	8236	1733	F	M-X	(R5)	MX mintmark, chief assayer's initial only
	Type not observed. Gilboy classifies type as extremely rare.
M-05-5	8239	1733	MF	M·X	N	MX mintmark
			Most abundant type for year, with three different reverse dies observed. Gilboy rates these as much more rare than I have observed.
M-05-6	8240	1733	MF		RRRR
	Only two die pairs observed. One of the obverse dies is shared with M-05-5.
(M-05-6u)	-	1733/2	MF		RRR	one year OD
	Type noted in SCWC, not in Gilboy. Only one die pair observed.
M-05-7	8246	1734	MF	S
	Abundant die pairs. Many well struck examples observed.
M-05-7a	8245	1734/3	MF		N	None year OD
			Relatively common overdate, with many different reverse dies. Some sharing of obverse dies with M-05-7.
M-05-7b	-	1734	MF		RRR	cinquefoil below assayers' initials
	Very rare variety for year with only two die pairs observed.
M-05-8	8253	1735	MF		C
	Common issue, with over 15 observed die pairs.
M-05-8a	8252	1735/4	MF		RRR	one year OD
			Rare OD, only three die pairs observed.
(M-05-8u)	-	1735/3	MF		RR	two year OD
	Not noted in references. Rare OD, only two die pairs observed. Higher grade examples needed to confirm 5/3 designation.
M-05-9	8260	1736	MF		C
	Most common date and type for Philip V.
M-05-9a	8259	1736/5	MF		RRR	one year OD
			Very rare OD, one die pair observed.
(M-05-9u)	(8258)	1736	F		RRRR	chief assayer's initial only
					Variety discussed by Gilboy in footnote as being exceedingly rare, but type is not listed in text of book. Must have been produced using obverse die from 1733. Cayon lists type as a 1736/3 OD, but this is not exhibited on only observed example, nor could the obverse die be matched with any known example from 1733.
FM-05-10	8269	1737	MF		C
(M-05-10u)	8268	1737/6	MF		RRRR	one year OD
	Variety noted in SCWC and Cayon, not in Gilboy. Only one die pair observed.
(M-05-10v}	-	1737	MF		RRRR	large F in assayer's initials
	Variety not noted in references. F punch may have been taken from set for one real dies. Commonly seen fake exists, all examples have been from same die pair.
M-05-11	8276	1738	MF		C
	Common type, over 15 die pairs observed.
M-05-11a	-	1738/7	MF		RR	one year OD
			Very rare variety. Only one die pair observed.
M-05-11b	-	1738/5	MF		RRRR	three year OD
	Very rare variety. Only one die pair observed.
M-05-11c	-	1738	MF		RR	cinquefoil below assayer's initials
	Rare variety, only two die pairs observed. Shares one reverse die with M-05-11.
M-05-12	8282	1739	MF		C
	Second most common type for Philip V. No obversed or listed varieties for this date. Some reverse dies show repunching of 7 and 3. Cayon notes variety with pellet between 3 and 9 (not observed).
M-05-13	8289	1740	MF		C
	Common date, over 15 die pairs observed.
M-05-13a	8288	1740/30	MF		R	decade OD
			Listed as extremely rare by Gilboy, but five die pairs observed
(M-05-13u)	-	1740/39	MF		RRR	one year OD
	Unlisted in references, only one die pair observed. All examples have numerous die cracks.
M-05-14	8294	1741	MF		C
	No listed or observed varietites for this year.
Beginning in 1742, coin obverse design changed, shortening legend and moving shield upward. Chief assayer initial moved to reverse, at right of date.
M-05-15	8298	1742	M		C
	Common date.
(M-05-15u)	-	1742	M		RRR	No pellet to right of date
			Unlisted in references, only one die pair observed. This design variety is, however, listed for 1746 (M-05-19a).
M-05-16	8302	1743	M		N
	Scarce date.
(M-05-16u)	-	1743/2	M		RRR	one year OD
			Unlisted in references. Only one die pair observed. Difficult to see in lower grades, due to similarity of 3 and 2.
M-05-17	8307	1744	M		N
	Relatively uncommon date
M-05-17a	8306	1744/3	M		S	one year OD
			Rare overdate, only two die pairs observed.
M-05-18	8312	1745	M		C
	Common date.
M-05-18a	-	1745	M		(R)	legend has EST IND instead of ET IND
	Variety listed in Gilboy, has not been observed.
M-05-19	8317	1746	M		C
	Common date.
M-05-19a	-	1746	M		R	No pellet to right of date
	Very rare variety. Only one die pair observed. Gilboy, however, lists it as 'scarce'.
(M-05-19u)	-	1746/5	M		N/A
M-05-20	8321	1747	M		N	PHS V
	Posthumous issue for Philip V. About same abundance as M-05-21. Less common date.

Rarity scale used, with the exception of those by Gilboy (shown in paratheses in table)