World Gold - 1791SO DA Chile 8 Escudos NGC MS63

Santiago was the Capital of the Captaincy General of Chile; and its mint was established as a private entity in 1743. Charles III brought the mint under the crown’s control in 1770. It was in the New World that Spanish colonists located several major deposits of gold; most significantly in Colombia. Such finds demanded the creation of local mints to process raw gold into coins and ingots to ship off to mother Spain (in the case of coins; to also use in the Spanish colonies). The first gold monetary units devised were denominations of one-half, one, two, four and eight escudos. The escudo was typically called a “shield” and was equivalent to sixteen reales of silver.The first escudos were introduced in 1535/37 and were stuck regularly until 1833. A two escudo piece was called a “pistole,” while a four escudo coin was called a “double pistol,” but early on it was at times called a “doubloon.” The big eight escudo coin was a “quadruple pistol” and, at first, was called a “double doubloon.” English colonists later called it the “Spanish doubloon.” Over the course of about 250 years; the fineness and weight of such Spanish gold coins hardly changed; providing the stability of its function as a standard by which other coins were measured.