The main Spanish coin, was the "8 Reales" piece. This is the famous "Piece of Eight" and later became called the "Peso". In 1535, the government of Spain authorized the establishment of a mint in Mexico City. Since silver was still mined in limited quantities, the largest denomination of coin produced was 4 Reales. A couple of years after the establishment of the Mexico Mint, King Charles ordered the consolidation of all of its currency. He ordered that all gold coins would be in the denomination of Escudos. The largest gold coin was the 8 Escudo piece, which was the same weight as the silver peso, 27 grams and 92% pure. The silver coins were in the denomination of Reales. This system lasted for over 300 years, with one Escudo equaling 16 Reales. Up to the 1570's, almost all of the coins were minted in Spain. All of the gold and silver, was smelted into ingots and transported to Spain. In 1545, silver was discovered in Peru, on a mountain called Potosí. The mint was established in 1572 and they started producing the 8 Real coin, which soon became the main coin produced in Potosí. Around 1570, the Crown, started to allow private contractors to mint coins for use in the colonies as the amount of silver being mined started to increase. These coins were very roughly made. They were made by the treatment of the silver ore with mercury to produce the metallic silver. This was melted and poured into molds that produced long flat bars of silver. The government assayer had the responsibility to insure that the silver bars had the correct purity, 92 - 95 % silver. These bars were hammered by hand, by Indian slaves, to make a crude, round, thinner bar. The tip of the bar was cut off to produce blank slugs, for making coins. One of these blanks, was placed between two dies, and the top die was struck with a hammer, imprinting the images onto the coin. The government assayer would then weigh the coin, and cut off all excess silver, making the coins of a consistent weight. Coins that did not weigh correctly, were thrown back into the pot, and re-melted. The thickness and circumference did not matter, the coins were based on the weight of silver they contained. That is why, no two Cobs were exactly the same.. "Cobs". The word Cob, comes from the Spanish words "cabo de barra", meaning, "end of bar". This crude appearance of these coins, allowed unscrupulous individuals to follow the practice of shaving pieces of the silver off the coin, making coins with less silver, than was legal. The real early coins produced in the New World, were made under the rule of King Charles V. These coins had on the obverse side, the coat of arms of Castile, this was the two castles and lions (Castilla y Leon). The reverse side had Charles' emblem, which were the two Pillars of Hercules and the Latin phrase "Plus Ultra". The Pillars of Hercules, was a very distinctive way of letting you know, that the coin was minted in America. Sources: October 15, 2001 Bruce C. Ruiz. / Wikipedia Online encyclopedia.

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