Set Description
In January 1784, the Spanish Brig El Cazador was lost at sea in the Gulf of Mexico while en-route to New Orleans. At the time, New Orleans was a territory and colony under the authority of the Spanish monarchy. In recent years, New Orleans had undergone a faltering economy which prompted Spanish King Charles III to stimulate the economy with newly minted silver currency. Aboard the El Cazador, the manifest reported over 450,000 Spanish reales in the cargo hold. The majority of this cargo was 8 reales or popularly known as pieces of eight. Approximately 50,000 of the reales were smaller denominations. In 1993, a fishing vessel named “The Mistake” mistakenly netted a whale cluster of fused together reales which led to the discovery of the ill-fated El Cazador. This set hopes to reunite one of each denomination, preferably minted in 1783.
Set Goals
Acquire a 1/2 Reale, 1 Reale, 2 Reales, 4 Reales and 8 Reales from the shipwreck of the El Cazador. Bonus goal to acquire all denominations for a specifically minted year.