Philip II, from the House of Habsburg, is considered one of the greatest sovereigns in the history of Spain in terms of leading global exploration and colonial expansion across the Atlantic and the Pacific. He stretched his empire across continents, creating one of the vastest empires ever known, re-shaping the political map of the world. With the discovery of untold riches that were mined in the Americas, the Spanish and their mighty galleon fleets became the premier supplier of gold and silver coins for the world. During this adventurous age, it was inevitable that large amounts of Spanish treasure would be lost on land and at sea due to pirates, storms and other unforeseen misfortunes.
The real was a unit of currency in Spain and its colonies for several centuries. When additional silver deposits were discovered in the colonial territories there was a pressing demand to export it to Spain as quickly as possible. To do this, starting in the reign of Philip II, the mints produced irregular coinage called cobs. A bar of silver was simply cut into chunks of the appropriate weight. The intention in minting these crude but accurately weighed cobs was to produce an easily portable product that could be sent to Spain. In Spain, the cobs would be melted down to produce silver jewelry, coins, bars and other items. Each coin has a unique shape and is a one-of-a-kind piece of history.
