Owner Comments:
DESCRIPTION
Date: 1652 (1-PH-6)
RULER: Philip IV
ASSAYER: E-Antonio de Ergueta
WEIGHT: 26.9g.
This specimen is an example of the beautiful pillars and waves design, minted in the first three years of its inception. An infamous period of stealing, corruption and fraud at the Potosi mint ended in 1652, and several assayers and mint officials were publicly executed. As a solution to the mint scandal, a new design of coinage - the Pillars and Waves series- was implemented. The very first pillars and waves cobs were struck for only a few months in 1652 but the design was so popular that it was used on coinage for the next 120 years.
It was struck in Potosi under the rule of Philip IV of Spain and was salvaged from the treasure ship Jesus Maria de la Limpa Concepcion, better known as "La Capitana". This coin is a post transitional Type VIII coin, minted in mid 1652 after the design had changed from the shield type to pillars and waves. However, the change was not instantaneous. There were eight distinct types of reverses and two types of obverses known for this transition.
The following reverse design defines the Type VIII version:
I*PH*6
P 8 E
PLV SLV TRA
E 52 P
THE 1654 SHIPWRECK OF THE SPANISH GALLEON CAPITANA
The above coin was recovered from the wreckage of the Capitana.The huge galleon of the Armada del Mar del Sur was lost near Chanduy, Ecuador in 1654 while sailing from Peru to Panama. This wreck was the largest loss ever experienced by the Spanish South Seas (Pacific) Fleet. Official records reported the loss of 3 million pesos of silver (2,212 ingots, 216 chests of coins and 22 boxes of wrought silver). This treasure was being hauled from Peru to Panama for further trans shipment to Spain. All coins of the Capitana are rare because the wreck was the result of faulty navigation and was deliberately run aground in shallows of only 24 ft. after irreparable damage and taking on water after striking a rock 12 hours earlier. However, as a result of the controlled wreck of the Capitana, the Spanish authorities, subsequently spent the next nine years recovering treasure from the site thus leaving little for modern salvors to recover. The Spanish salvors finally gave up in 1663 after reporting to the crown that there was nothing left to recover. The site was then abandoned and sanded over and the location remained forgotten for 330 years.
However, in 1997, divers re-discovered the resting place of the remains of the Capitana and that same year, using modern equipment removed all the sand down to bedrock. However, the Spanish recovery effort had indeed been thorough and only another 6,200 coins were recovered.