2 Shield Gold Doubloon

Enlarge Obverse (left) and reverse (right) — Notofilia.com Collection

Hand-struck at the Santa Fe de Bogotá mint —one of the Spanish Empire’s main gold-producing centers in the New World—, this 2-escudo cob represents trade gold coinage in its most artisanal form. Gold bars were melted, hand-cut into irregular planchets, and struck with hammer dies, an entirely manual process that made each piece unique.

Country / Viceroyalty New Granada (present-day Colombia)

Mint Santa Fe de Bogotá (“SF” mintmark)

Reign Philip V, first Bourbon king of Spain (1700–1746)

Denomination 2 gold escudos (“doubloon”)

Composition Gold .917 (22 carats)

Gross weight ~6.76 g (typical range in macuquinas: 6.65–6.82 g)

Fine gold content 0.1995 troy oz (~6.2 g pure gold)

Diameter ~20–24 mm (irregular cospel typical of the macuquina)

Manufacturing Method Hand minting on cut cospel (macuquina)

Catalog references KM #17.2 · Restrepo M80 · Calico Type 243 · Friedberg Fr-8(general type 1714–1743; the exact subtype depends on the year and assayer)

Obverse and Reverse

• Obverse — The Cross:large cross of Jerusalem minted by hand, with arms ending in a potentized cross, framed in a four-leaf border. Alternating in the quadrants of the cross appear two stylized castles (Castilla) and two lions (León).
• Reverse — Columns and Waves:the Pillars of Hercules standing on stylized waves, a symbol of Spanish expansion across the Atlantic. In the central grid appears the denomination “2”, flanked by the mint mark “SF” (Santa Fe de Bogotá) and the assayer's mark; The lower register bears the date, when visible on the blank.

Minted in Santa Fe de Bogotá, this macuquina belongs to the first stage of a mint founded in 1622, where the first gold coins made in America were produced. Under the reign of Philip V, bars of gold were melted, cut by hand into blanks, and struck with dice on an anvil. The irregular shape of each piece testifies to this process prior to mechanization with flywheel presses, implemented in Santa Fe since 1757.

— Historical Context Note