1783 Mexico Silver 8 Reales El Cazador Shipwreck
Oiriginal "Piece of Eight"
Very Fine-30 ANACS Certified Sunken Treasure
(Silver Weight: 0.7858 oz, comparable to US Trade Dollar)
Graded Examples are rare and valuable. Most certified coins from this sunken hoard are "Genuine" only no grades. This example is one of the finest coins I've seen from this wreck! I really like how the unique water damage blends with the figures clothes, leaving it's eye appeal intact! It's my personal prize coin, and I'm reluctant to part with it! I've moved it from my collection book to my for sale book a few times already because I can't decide whether to sell it or keep it tucked away, hence the high price!
The El Cazador (meaning The Hunter in English) was a Spanish brig that sank in the Gulf of Mexico in 1784. At that time the Spanish Louisiana Territory's economy was faltering due to paper money that was not backed by silver or gold. Carlos III, King of Spain, decided to replace the worthless currency with silver coins. On 20 October 1783 the King sent the El Cazador on a mission to deliver much-needed hard currency to the Spanish colony of Louisiana in order to stabilize the currency. The ship sailed to Vera Cruz, Mexico, where she was loaded with approximately 450,000 Spanish Reales.Carlos III enlisted his most trusted captain, Gabriel de Campos y Pineda, to command the ship. On 11 January 1784, she sailed for New Orleans and was never heard from again. Spain's attempts to locate the ship were unsuccessful and in June 1784, El Cazador was officially listed as missing at sea.[4]
Then on 2 August 1993, the trawler Mistake, Captain Jerry Murphy and home port in Mississipi, was fishing in the Gulf of Mexico fifty miles south of New Orleans. As it fished, Mistake's net hung on a snag. When the crew hoisted the net and dumped the contents on the deck, they found the net was filled with silver coins. The coins bore markings from the Spanish mint in Mexico, along with the date 1783.
Treasure from the ship was originally housed in a safe at the old Grand Bay State Bank building in Grand Bay, ALabama . In December 2004 the Executors of the Reahard estate hired Jonathan Lerner of Scarsdale Coin to appraise the coins. This appraisal was completed in February 2005.
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