Owner Comments:
DESCRIPTION
Date: 1652
RULER: Philip IV
ASSAYER: P-Unknown
WEIGHT: 12.3g.
Crude flan (partially flat due to uneven thickness) but with full date, most of cross and shield and oMP, deeply toned all over, minimal corrosion.
ASSAYER: P-Unknown
THE 1656 SHIPWRECK OF THE DUTCH SHIP VERGULDE DRAECK (GILT DRAGON)
The ship was on it's way from the Netherlands to Batavia Jakarta with a modest amount of just silver cobs (eight chests totaling 45,950 coins), mostly Mexican but also some cobs from Potosi and Spain. It hit a reef some three miles from land in the early morning hours of April 28, 1656. Only 75 of the 193 people on board were able to reach the shore. Seven of them soon left in the ship's pinnace to seek help in Batavia. When authorities there learned of the wreck, several attempts were made to rescue the other survivors and more importantly, the eight chests of treasure, but no sign of the wreck or survivors was ever found.
The wreck remained undiscovered until 1963, when spear fishermen stumbled upon it and began to recover coins and artifacts. Salvage efforts to date, mostly under the supervision of the Western Australian Museum, have yielded only about half of the total coins officially recorded to be on board this ship.