awsome finds bud!!!!!!!
The 1740 is an exampe of the first milled or "pillar" coinage. On the obverse to the left of the crowned Spanish arms there is . M F representing the initials of the assayers Manual de Leon and Francisco de la Peña y Flores who worked together 1731-1754 . To the right of the arms is the denomination 2 with a rosette above and below, for two reales. On the reverse Mo is the mintmark for Mexico City. On the columns is PLUS VLTR, an abbreviation for the motto Plus Ultra (More Beyond).
1723 "Cob"
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. Cobs also circulated as coinage, many cobs made their way to the English colonies where they were used both as coins in commerce and hoarded as specie. As the cobs were crudely produced it was quite easy for colonials to clip off some silver and then pass the coin off at full value. Also, because of their crude design it was easy to make lightweight counterfeit cobs using the clipped silver. Many clipped and lightweight Spanish cobs were melted down in Boston to make the Massachusetts silver coinage.
Cobs were produced in denominations of one, two, four and eight reales under Philip II (1556-159

and Philip III (1598-1621). A half real cob was added under Philip IV (1621-1665). Cobs continued to be produced through the reigns of Charles II (1665-1700), Philip V (1700-1724 and 1725-1746), Louis I (1725), Ferdinand VI (1746-1759) and Charles III (1759-178

. The obverse of a cob displays the crowned Hapsburg shield with the mintmark and assayer initial to the left and the denomination to the right of the shield. The legend, although frequently missing from the planchet, is some variation of the name of the king with DEI GRATIA (By the Grace of God). The reverse displays the arms of Castile and Leon within a quatrefoil design. The arms are similar to those on the Charles and Johanna pre cob silver coins but the two intersecting lines, dividing the shield into quadrants, are emphasized so that they represent a cross in the center of the shield with the castle and lion images in their respective corners. The legend is some form of REX HISPANIARUM ET INDIARUM (Of the Spains and the Indies - as found in the pre cobs). Starting in the seventeenth century most cobs were dated but this information was added to the obverse legend and was usually not picked up in the stamping of the coin.