8 Real    (sold for $60.0)

1759, Mexico, Ferdinand VI. Half-Cut of a Colonial 8 Reales (4 Bits) Coin. R!

Mint Year: 1759
Mint Mark: Mexico (Mo)
Denomination: 4 bits / 4 reales (made of a halved 8 reales coin)
Condition: Contemporarly cut, dark oxidation deposits, corrosion scars, lightly cleaned, otherwise about VF!
References: 1759-MoMM, KM-104.1. var. (here a contemporarly halved piece, reduced to 4 bits or 4 reales). R!
Weight: 15.41gm
Diameter: 39mm
Material: Silver

Obverse: Shield of Arms of Castile and Leon, flanked by rosettes.
Latin Legend: * FERDND . VI . D . G . HISPAN . ET IND . R * / .MM* / *8*
Expanded: FERDINAND VI DEI GRATIA ET INDIARUM REX
Translation: "Ferdinand VI by the Grace of God, King of the Spains and the Indies"

Reverse: Two orbs with a crown above (representing the Old and the World). The orbs are over the Straits of Gibraltar, flanked by two crowned pillars, representing the Pillars of Hercules, with PLUS VLTRA ("Further Beyond") on banners wrapped around the columns, date below.
Latin Legend: VTRA QUE VNUM / * Mo * 1759 * Mo *
Translation: "On both sides - Unity"

Interesting item, cut in half, lightly corroded all over but quite rare and valuable as an example of a true colonial-era "4 bits."

em>.

Ferdinand VI, (23 September 1713 - 10 August 1759), King of Spain from 9 July 1746 until his death. He was the fourth son of the previous monarch Philip V and his first wife Maria Luisa of Savoy. Ferdinand, the second member of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty, was born in Madrid on 23 September 1713.