THE COINS OF SUNKEN TREASURE SHIPS
Santiago, wrecked 1585.
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Coin Details
| Origin/Country: |
SPAIN - TO 1600 |
| Design Description: |
Shield and Cross |
| Item Description: |
8R (1556-98)S D S SEVILLE - SQUARE D PHILIP II |
| Full Grade: |
NGC INELIGIBLE TYPE |
| Owner: |
oldgoatsboats |
Owner Comments:
Note: COIN IS INELIGIBLE FOR ENCAPSULATION
DESCRIPTION:
This coin is an 8 Reales coin from the sunken Portuguese treasure ship Santiago and is dated from the reign of King Phillip II.
DATE: 1556-1598
RULER: Phillip II
ASSAYER: Unknown
WEIGHT:23.5g.
OBVERSE:
Broad and almost perfectly round flan with full cross and tressure as well as full shield and crown. Large Arabic "S" to the left of shield.
REVERSE:
Assayer Gothic "D" at the 4'oclock position outside the tressure around the cross.
THE 1585 SHIPWRECK OF THE SANTIAGO:
The coin shown above was recovered from the Santiago which sank on the Bassas da India atoll between Mozambique and Madagascar (East Africa) in 1585. This relatively obscure wreck sank on the reef at night due to pilot error, following which the captain and crew absconded with the one useable lifeboat, leaving some 400 or more passengers to perish on the wreck. The Santiago was found again and salvaged in the late 1970s by Ernest Erich Klaar and eventually yielded thousands of silver cobs (marketed in the 1980s) of both Spain and Spanish America (particularly the mints of Seville and Mexico).