Philip V was King of Spain from November 1, 1700, until his abdication in favor of his son Louis on January 14, 1724, and from his return to the throne following his son's death on September 6, 1724, until his own passing on July 9, 1746. He held a prominent position in the French royal family as the grandson of King Louis XIV. His great-uncle, King Charles II of Spain, named him heir in his will.
Philip's accession to the Spanish throne sparked the War of the Spanish Succession, a 13-year conflict that culminated in the Treaty of Utrecht, which barred any future possibility of uniting the crowns of France and Spain. Philip was the first member of the French House of Bourbon to rule as King of Spain. The total of his two reigns, 45 years and 21 days, stands as the longest in modern Spanish history.
The real was a monetary unit in Spain and its colonies for several centuries. When new silver deposits were discovered in colonial territories, an urgent need arose to export it to Spain as quickly as possible. To accomplish this, starting in the reign of Philip II, mints began producing crude, irregular coins known as cobs (macuquinas). A silver bar was simply sliced into planchets of the appropriate weight.
The purpose of these pieces, however roughly struck, was to maintain precise weight while being easily transportable. Once in Spain, the cobs were melted down to craft jewelry, coins, ingots, and other items. Each coin features a unique shape and represents an irreplaceable piece of history.
