THE SPANISH MILLED DOLLAR
1733-MF, KLIPPE

Owner Comments:

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After gaining experience as an assistant assayer during the 1720s, Captain Felipe Rivas Anglo served as the working assayer during the period when the mint began to change from the handstruck, cob-style coins to the new, machined pieces produced on a screw press. In accordance with the royal decree of 9 June 1728, screw press production began on 29 March 1732. In reality, the introduction of the new and unfamiliar technology at first slowed production so that it was necessary to continue minting cobs into 1733. As a result, the assayer's initial F not only appears in 1732 on cob pieces and the new style "pillar dollar" pieces, but also in 1733 on the series of silver coins known as "klippes". The word thought to derive from the Swedish verb meaning to clip or cut with shears," is widely used to describe money produced in emergency situations like sieges, when time or facilities were lacking for the production of round planchets. The Spanish term for such coins is recortados--items that have been cut or trimmed more than once. The word reflects the reality of the period at the Mexican mint. The klippes were generally too large and had to be trimmed around the edges to obtain the proper weight. They were produced like cobs to make up the continued shortfall in milled coins, and were the last coin issued with the traditional Bourbon shield.