119:(cobs) are handsomely crude, nearly all with a cross as the central feature on one side and either a coat-of-arms (shield) or a tic-tac-toe-like "pillars and waves" on the other side. Silver cobs are known as "reales" and gold cobs are known as "escudos", with two 8 reales (about 27 grams each) equaling one escudo. Some were struck with a date, and most show a mintmark and an initial or monogram for the assayer, the mint official who was responsible for weight and fineness. Size and shape were immaterial, which means that most are far from round or uniform in thickness.
17:
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The minting of coins manually and with hammer blows has been used by humanity since time immemorial. From the second millennium BC to the 16th century AD this was the most used system in the world to make coins. This does not directly explain why coins of this type existed in the
Americas so late in
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were used heavily used in local transactions in
America, although their poor quality produced many complaints. Their irregular shape invited clipping, leading to ever greater numbers of coins below legal weight. Clipped coin tended to migrate at a small profit in commerce to cities in need of coin
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Coinage in several places in Europe was already carried out using the "flywheel press", a large and complex device invented in Italy in the 16th century where metal discs were engraved and cut on both sides using a press. However, such machines, complex for their time and tiring to transport, were
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in 1565 ordered by the provisional governor Lope GarcĂa de Castro and the Royal Mint of PotosĂ, all before the year 1600, in order to take advantage of the great production of silver and gold in
American lands in order to minting currency that was essential both for paying tribute to the Spanish
135:
They were generally accepted as good currency all around the world, and were the exact coins pirates referred to as "pieces of eight" (8 reales) and "doubloons" (any gold cobs but originally 2 escudos). Their design and history have made them a very popular choice for jewelry.
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as the type of coin roughly minted manually with hammer blows, a method widely used from the 16th century to the mid-18th century. There are various opinions about the origin of the word: while some maintain that it comes from the
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Water-powered roller die and punch technology, capable of making high quality, round coinage was imported to
Segovia, Spain from Germany in the 1580s, yet the old Royal mint at Segovia continued to make
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word "machuch" ('approved' or 'sanctioned'), others claim that it comes from the
Quechua expression Makkaikuna - or macay pina -, which would make reference to its manufacture with hammer blows.
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were over a decade old), King
Charles III ordered macuquina in the Indies withdrawn and reminted. The order had to be reissued in 1789, but it remained unfulfilled due to a lack of resources.
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since the beginning of the 16th century motivated the opening of mints such as the
Mexican Mint, founded in 1536 by the first Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco; the
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currency. The absence of modern machinery to mint money, manufactured outside of Spain, and the needs of commerce in said territories caused the appearance of the
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not available in the
Americas until the beginning of the 18th century and therefore, the first centuries of Spanish colonization were supported by the
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Struck and trimmed by hand in the 16th through 18th centuries at
Spanish mints in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia (among others), silver and gold
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time, given that both the
Mexicans and the Incas already worked gold and silver in a fairly traditional and correct manner.
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77:(cobs). The Royal Mint of Potosi was the last to establish this advanced technology, making them until 1772.
132:(often those preparing a fleet for sail) where hard money was accepted at, or near, face value.
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152:
Historia básica de la Moneda Mexicana, Banco de México, s/f.
100:crown and for commercial traffic in the colonies.
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88:("Cobs") are the original "treasure coins."
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222:Spanish colonization of the Americas
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91:The urgent need for coins in
165:Glosario numismático Numisma
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247:Economic history of Ecuador
237:Economic history of Bolivia
103:In 1784 (by which time all
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242:Economic history of Mexico
217:Modern obsolete currencies
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232:Economic history of Peru
69:, also known as "cobs".
163:"Enrique Rubio Santos,
198:Practical Book of Cobs
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179:on 3 February 2012
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172:. Archived from
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41:Spanish America
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200:4th ed. 2007
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181:. Retrieved
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35:is known in
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227:Numismatics
183:24 December
129:macuquina's
211:Categories
140:References
117:Macuquinas
105:macuquinas
86:Macuquinas
67:macuquinas
20:Macuquinas
97:Lima Mint
75:macuquina
63:macuquina
32:macuquina
29:The name
25:Etymology
111:Minting
81:History
52:Origin
46:Arabic
177:(PDF)
170:(PDF)
37:Spain
185:2012
127:The
39:and
123:Use
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187:.
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