8 Escudos Gold Coin, Felipe V, Mexico 1740

If you inherited or found a 1740 Mexico 8 Escudos gold coin from Felipe V, you have something with real value. This is the largest gold denomination of Spanish colonial Mexico, and even worn examples carry a solid floor from their gold content alone. Certified pieces routinely trade in the thousands of dollars. Here is what yours is actually worth and how to check.

Quick answer: what it's worth

The 1740 8 Escudos of Felipe V is a heavy gold coin, so it never trades for pocket change. Its value comes from two things stacked together: the gold it contains (a hard floor) and its numismatic premium (how rare and how well preserved it is).

• Metal floor: the coin weighs 27.01 grams at 0.875 fineness (21 karat), giving roughly 0.76 troy ounces of pure gold. At current gold prices, that alone is worth well over 1,500 USD in melt value.
• Numismatic value: genuine circulated examples typically sell from a few thousand dollars up. Well-struck, certified, high-grade pieces have brought considerably more at major auctions. Colonial 8 escudos in top grades regularly clear 5,000 to 15,000 USD, and rare date/mint/assayer combinations go higher.

Because it is a precious-metal coin, you will always find a buyer. The question is whether yours is worth just melt or a strong premium over it, and that comes down to authenticity and grade.

What exactly is an 8 Escudos?

The escudo was the Spanish gold denomination. The 8 escudos was the top of the line, the single most valuable coin in daily colonial commerce, used for wholesale trade and large transactions. Collectors and dealers often call it a "gold onza" (Spanish for ounce), since it holds close to a troy ounce of gold.

Felipe V was the first Bourbon king of Spain, and his reign brought a modernization of minting in Mexico. Your coin was struck at the Mexico City Mint (the oldest mint in the Americas). Its catalog reference is Krause KM#148.

Specifications (check yours against these)

If your coin does not weigh close to 27.01 grams and measure about 37 mm, treat it as suspect until proven otherwise. Weight and size are the fastest tells against fakes.

Why this coin holds value

Most old coins are worth very little. This one is different for concrete reasons:

1. Gold content. Nearly three-quarters of an ounce of gold gives it a permanent price floor that a worn silver coin never has.
2. Age and demand. Spanish colonial 8 escudos are a serious collecting category, popular with both Mexican and international collectors, which keeps demand steady.
3. Survival rate. These were high-value coins, many were melted over the centuries, so surviving examples in collectible condition are genuinely scarce.

The exact mintage for this 1740 issue is not officially documented, which is common for colonial coinage. Value here is driven by grade and eye appeal far more than by a published mintage figure.

The myth to ignore

Age alone does not equal a fortune. A heavily worn, corroded, or (worse) counterfeit 8 escudos is not a jackpot. What separates a 2,000 USD coin from a 12,000 USD coin is condition and certification, not the date on it. Do not assume "it's from 1740, so it must be priceless." Get it evaluated before you believe any number.

How to check if yours is genuine

Gold counterfeits are common, and many come from overseas at lower fineness than the real 0.875. The metal usually gives them away.

• Weigh it. A real one is 27.01 grams. Underweight or overweight is a red flag.
• Measure it. About 37 mm across.
• Check the edge. It should show diagonal reeding.
• Look at strike quality. Colonial dies produced characteristic detail; cast fakes look soft and grainy.

For a coin in this value range, do not rely on your own eye alone. Send it to NGC or PCGS, the two leading third-party grading services. Certification confirms authenticity, assigns a grade, and typically raises the price a serious buyer will pay. It is the single best step before selling anything valuable.

Where to sell it

Because this is a high-value gold piece, sell carefully and never take the first lowball offer.

• Established coin dealers and numismatic firms. They can appraise on the spot and buy outright. Use a reputable dealer, ideally one who handles colonial gold.
• Major auction houses. For a certified, high-grade example, houses like Heritage Auctions and Stack's Bowers reach the international bidders who pay the strongest prices for colonial 8 escudos.
• Collector marketplaces and forums. Sell peer to peer among serious collectors, but always insist on photos of the obverse, reverse, and edge, plus a verified weight.

Before selling, photograph all three sides (front, back, and edge), get it certified if it is high grade, and know your metal floor so no one buys it for less than its gold is worth.

Have a 1740 8 Escudos, or another colonial gold coin you can't identify? Post clear photos of both sides and the edge in the Pesoteca forum and let the community weigh in on grade and value before you sell.

Eight escudos, Felipe V second period, 1740, Mexico City mint, assayer MF, Krause KM#148. That year Pedro de Castro y Figueroa, Duke of the Conquest, took office as viceroy of New Spain, succeeding Vizarrón y Eguiarreta. His term was brief: he died in 1741 and was succeeded by Pedro Cebrián y Agustín, Count of Fuenclara. In Europe the War of the Austrian Succession was breaking out after the death of Emperor Charles VI, a conflict that would involve Spain as an ally of France against Austria and England. The ounce weighs a theoretical 27.06 grams at .916 fineness. Milled with a round planchet, treated edge, and a classic pillar reverse. The MF signature of the assayers guarantees the gold fineness in the field of the piece. Krause groups 1740 within the broad KM#148 with no specific variants by year.