(sold for $100.0)

1723/2, Spain, Philip V. Silver 2 Reales "Pistareen" Coin. Unlisted Overdate!

Mint Year: 1723
Condition: F-VF
Denomination: 2 Reales (cross pistareen)
Mint Place: Segovia (privy mark: aqueduct)
Reference: 1723/2-F, KM-297. var. (there no overdate listed!)
Diameter: 26mm
Material: Silver
Weight: 4.43gm

Obverse: Crowned shield of arms of Philip V with rounded bottom.
Latin Legend: * PHILIPPUS * V * D * G * / . R (aqueduct) . / . II F .
Translation: "Philip V by the Grace of God"

Reverse: Cross of Jerusalem with lions and castles in fields, all in octolobe.
Legend: HISPANIARUM * REX * I723 (re-engraved from 1722) *
Translation: "King of the Spains, date".

The Oxford English Dictionary says the word "PISTAREEN" is derived from a popular formation of peseta a diminutive of the pesa of weight, that later became peso, the unit of monetary value in Spain, now equivalent to the Spanish dollar. “istareen” is both “An American or West Indian name for a small Spanish silver coin formerly current there” or, alternatively, “Concerned with small matters; petty, paltry, picayune.” The pistareen to be more specific is a thin, round, silver coin, about the size of a modern day quarter on whose face it proclaims to be worth two reales. Pistareens were minted in Spain from the late 17th to the early 19th century.

Philip V of Spain (Versailles (France), 19 December 1683 - La Granja (Spain), 9 July 1746 ), born Philippe de France, fils de France and duc d'Anjou, was king of Spain from 1700 to 1724 and 1724 to 1746, the first of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain.

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.