1620 Mexico 8 Reales Felipe III: Value & Silver Content

If you inherited an old, irregular silver coin stamped with a shield and a cross, and it reads something like "PHILIPPVS" with a 1620 date, you likely have a Spanish colonial 8 reales struck in Mexico City. Most circulated examples trade from about 200 to several hundred USD. Genuine, well-preserved or certified pieces climb into the low thousands. Here is what actually drives that number.

What this coin is

The 8 reales was the flagship silver coin of the Spanish Empire, minted in Mexico City (the "Ceca México," or Mexico mint) during the colonial period, also called the Virreinato. This one carries the name of Felipe III (Philip III of Spain, reigned 1598 to 1621) and the date 1620. It belongs to the broader family of colonial 8 reales, the physical origin of the term "pieces of eight" and, eventually, the US dollar.

These early coins are usually cobs: hand-struck, irregularly shaped silver blanks cut from a bar and stamped by hand. Expect an uneven edge and off-center designs. That is normal for the period and does not mean your coin is damaged or fake.

Real specifications

Use these to sanity-check any coin sold to you as a 1620 Mexico 8 reales.

Spec	Value
Denomination	8 reales
Year	1620
Ruler	Felipe III
Mint	Mexico City (Ceca México)
Assayer	D
Metal	Silver, .900 fine
Weight	27.15 grams
Diameter	41 mm
Edge	Plain (unmilled)

At .900 silver and roughly 27 grams, the raw metal content sets a floor value. That floor is real but modest, on the order of a few hundred US dollars in silver alone. The reason these coins sell for more is history and collector demand, not the metal.

What it is actually worth

Honest answer: value swings hard by condition and by whether the coin is certified. For colonial 8 reales cobs like this:

• Heavily worn, corroded, or with weak strike: roughly 150 to 400 USD.
• Solid circulated with a readable date and shield: roughly 400 to 1,200 USD.
• High grade or NGC/PCGS certified with a clear 1620 date: low thousands of USD, and more for exceptional examples.

The date matters a lot here. On many cobs the date is weak or off the flan entirely. A coin with a fully legible 1620 and a clear Mexico mintmark is worth a large premium over an identical coin where the date is a guess.

We will not print a fake exact record for this specific issue. What we can tell you plainly: colonial Mexican 8 reales in top certified grades have sold in the four-figure USD range at major houses like Heritage and Stack's Bowers, and the money is driven by strike quality, full date, and eye appeal.

Why old does not mean rich

A 400-year-old date impresses people who do not collect. It does not automatically mean a fortune. Millions of 8 reales were struck across the colonial period, and worn, damaged, or unattributable cobs are common in the market. What separates a 300 USD coin from a 3,000 USD coin:

• Full, legible date and mintmark. The single biggest value driver on cobs.
• Strike quality. How much of the shield, cross, and legends actually landed on the metal.
• Grade and certification. An NGC or PCGS holder removes the authenticity doubt that suppresses prices on raw cobs.
• No damage. Sea salvage corrosion, holes, and heavy cleaning all cut value.

How to tell if yours is genuine

Counterfeits of colonial silver exist, from cast copies to modern fantasy pieces. Quick checks before you spend real money:

1. Weigh it. A genuine coin sits near 27.15 grams. A cob can be slightly under from clipping or wear, but a piece far off that number is a red flag. Cast fakes are often the wrong weight and diameter.
2. Look at the edge and surfaces. Real cobs show hand-struck texture and metal flow. Cast copies show a soft, grainy, sometimes bubbly surface and a seam.
3. The ring test. Genuine .900 silver gives a clear, sustained ring when gently balanced and tapped. Base-metal fakes sound flat and short.
4. Certify anything valuable. If the coin looks like the real thing and the date is readable, submitting to NGC or PCGS is the definitive answer. For a coin potentially worth four figures, grading fees are cheap insurance and they roughly double your resale confidence.

Compare your coin against the conservation grading guide to place it in a grade band before you get quotes.

Where to sell it

Because this is a precious-metal collectible, you always have a buyer, but you want the right one:

• A verified numismatic dealer from the Pesoteca shop directory can appraise it in person and quote on the spot.
• The Pesoteca buy and sell forum](/foro/compra-venta) connects you directly with collectors who know colonial cobs and will pay for a good date.
• US auction houses (Heritage, Stack's Bowers) make sense only for high-grade certified examples, where their reach earns the seller's commission back.

Before selling, photograph the obverse, reverse, and edge in sharp light, note the exact weight, and check the value bands above. Do not dump it on the first social-media offer, and treat any online listing without clear edge and weight photos as a risk.

This piece is part of the Colonial 8 Reales series; if you have others from the same era, they may cross-value together. Have a 1620 or another colonial 8 reales in hand? Post clear photos of both sides and the date area in the Pesoteca forum and let collectors help you pin down the grade and a real price.

This piece belongs to the reign of Philip III of Spain (1598-1621). He succeeded his father Philip II. His government, delegated to the Duke of Lerma, coincided with the beginning of the so-called economic decline of the Hispanic Monarchy.

The government of New Spain in 1620 was in the hands of Diego Fernández de Córdoba, Marquis of Guadalcázar, the close of his viceroyalty that year.

The numismatic type of the piece is a cob (macuquina), also called hammer-cut coinage. The planchets were trimmed with shears from a bar of silver and struck between manual dies, so no cob has a perfectly circular edge or shape. It circulated as the benchmark commercial coin throughout the Atlantic for more than two centuries.

The Mexico City mint (mark Mo crowned) operated from 1535 as the first mint in America. During the 17th century it struck cobs almost without interruption, being the main point of issue of struck silver in the Spanish empire. The assayer's initials declared on the piece are D, an official of the Royal Treasury charged with certifying the silver fineness (.930 and later .903) according to the viceregal standard.

The colonial catalogs trace this piece within the families of the Mexican piece of eight, with prices that respond to rarity by year and assayer's signature.

Year of the handover of the viceroyalty from the Marquis of Guadalcázar to the Marquis of Gelves.