FERDINAND VI

Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, known as Guatemala and later as Antigua Guatemala, was the seat of the Captaincy General of Guatemala between 1541 and 1776. In the 18th century, the city suffered several significant earthquakes, such as the San Miguel earthquake in 1717 and the San Casimiro earthquake in 1751. Between these seismic events, and following the suggestions of the Viceroy of Mexico, Marquis of Casafuerte, and the Bishop of Guatemala, Juan Leandro Gómez de Parada, as well as the favourable opinion of the Council of the Indies, King Philip V authorised the creation of a Mint in the city by Royal Decree dated January 17, 1731, instructing the Mexico Mint to provide technical and personnel support for its implementation. After the 1751 earthquake, numerous public works were undertaken in the city, which entered a period of prosperity. The Mint, which had been ordered to mint coinage in screw press on May 14, 1751, “circular coinage of the same type as that produced in the Mexico Mint”, was able to definitively and fully comply with the regulations starting in late May 1754, as the machinery had to be brought from the Mexico Mint. From that moment on, it began minting silver coinage with rim milling, while the production of gold coinage followed shortly after. The first gold pieces, incorporating the new technique, emerged towards the end of 1754, bearing the mark of assayer José de León y Sosa (J) alongside the royal shield. In America, these years witnessed the insurrection of the Guaraní people (1752-1756), who, led by the Jesuits, did not accept their transition to Portuguese sovereignty.