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Site Map and Master List of all coins and ingots currently available
We're sorry that our website has become something of a rabbit warren, with coins from the same mint scattered over several pages. To help you navigate and find more easily the coins you are interested in, we've decided to create this master list of everything currently listed on the site. Hope this helps!
Lima Gold Cobs
Lima 1699 R 8 escudos NGC MS 62 1715 Fleet here. Lima 1711 M 8 escudos NGC AU 55 1715 Fleet here. Lima 1712 M 8 escudos NGC MS 63-AU 55 1715 Fleet here and here. Lima 1712 M 4 escudos NGC AU 55 1715 Fleet here. Lima 1716 M 4 escudos NGC MS 61 here Lima 1740/39 V 4 escudos NGC XF 45 here Lima 1746 V 8 ecudos NGC AU 55 here Lima 1750 R 4 escudos La Luz MS 63-AU 55 here
Mexico Gold Cobs
Mexico 1715 J 8 escudos NGC AU 58 1715 Plate Fleet coming soon Mexico 1714 J 8 escudos NGC MS 64 1715 Fleet here Mexico 1714 J 4 escudos 1715 Fleet NGC MS 62 here Mexico (1714) J 1 escudo NGC MS 64 1715 Fleet here. Mexico 1711 J 8 escudos ornate cross 1715 Fleet coming soon Mexico (1711) J 8 escudos 1715 Fleet coming soon Mexico (circa 1698) Carlos II 2 escudos NGC AU 58 1715 Fleet here
Colombian Gold Cobs
Cartagena 1633 C E/E 2 escudos NGC XF 45 here. Bogota (1633-36) 2 escudos NGC MS63-AU 50 Mesuno Treasure here Bogota 1707/6 2 escudos NGC MS 61 1715 Fleet here.
Spanish Colonial milled Portrait gold
Santiago, Chile 1750/5 4 escudos NGC AU 58 La Luz here Popayan, Colombia 1795 8 escudos NGC MS 63 here Bogota, Colombia 1797 8 escudos PCGS MS 64+ here
Treasure from Cortes' Conquest of Mexico
"Golden silver" (dorada plata) ingots from Cortes' Conquest of Central Mexico (1522-24) are accessible from here.
Silver bars from Dutch VOC shipwreck
Rooswijk silver bars are here. Slot ter Hooge silver bars coming soon.
US Shipwreck Gold
SS Republic $20 1855 S NGC AU 58 w/box here.
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C9. A high grade (1636) Bogota two escudos from the famous 1636 Magdalena River Mesuno Shipwreck. Lustrous choice mint state coin, 6.7 gms, 22 mm, graded "Mesuno Treasure MS 62" by NGC.
Although almost 1600 gold pieces were recovered from the Magdalena River in 1936--see Leopoldo Cancio's excellent study of the hoard in 1978-79, with additional confirmation from Colombian sources--the vast majority were somewhat the worst for their 300 years in the river. To that , add the problem the best surviving pieces were quickly purchased for jewelry use. Numismatic interest in the coins really did not really develop to any extent until the 1960's, perhaps collateral to the new Florida finds from the 1715 Fleet. I would say that possibly 1/10 of 1% of the hoard survives in genuinely mint state with no jewelry use.
Many 1630's Bogotas are offered at auction and on ebay as "Mesuno Hoard" with no documented provenance. When collectors wish to resell these coins, they will discover that their "maybe Mesuno" pedigree attracts buyers only at a highly discounted price. Here is a dated 1636 Bogota with a clear provenance to Stack's 1959-1960 sale of a choice group of Mesunos. NGC has accepted this documentation and recorded it on the encapsulation. This coin, one of the best 1636 Mesuno Bogota NGC has encapsulated, will be a highlight of any Spanish Colonial or Shipwreck collection.
Available. Price on request. terravitan@aol.com or call 480-595-1293
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C11. From the famous 1636 MESUNO Shipwreck Santa Fe de Bogota, two escudos (1636). (N)RA to the left of the nearly full shield. Good, well-centered cross. NGC graded "Mesuno Treasure XF 45". Available.
C12. From Colombia's famous 1636 MESUNO Shipwreck, Santa Fe de Bogota, two escudos (1636). Two choice AU Mesunos with original reddish toning from the leather bags in which they were being transported. NGC graded "Mesuno Treasure". Available.
CColombian Gold Cobs (1622-1756)
What would later become the Viceroyalty of New Granada acquired one of its first casa de fundicion (assay office) at Marquita in Central Colombia about 1590. Marquita issued officially stamped gold ingots for 30 years, some perhaps imitating the Tejeulos system being used at Mexico City. None of these ingots apparently survive, a circumstance that a new Tierra Firme shipwreck, 1590-1625, may eventually remedy.
In 1620 Philip III sold Capt Alonso Turillo that right to establish a mint at Bogota with an oficina or branch mint at Cartagena. Turillo arrived in Colombia in 1621 and very quickly commenced a silver coinage. About a dozen or so two escudos dated 1622 give evidence that a brief gold coinage may also been attempted in Cartagena. No doubt some of this 1622 issue was struck in Madrid as patterns to show Philip III and his court, but the dies may have later accompanied Turillo to Cartagena and been used again. A final judgment on the 1622 gold coinage is not yet possible.
Mint records show that Cartagena began to strike two and one escudos in 1627 and continued to do so for 9 years (1627-1635). No gold coins attest a brief possible minatge in 1626. Under political pressure from officials at Bogota, Cartagena was never allowed to strike gold after 1635. The Bogota mint began regular production at the same time as Cartagena, and with a few brief hiatuses struck gold cobs until 1756.
For 110 years Bogota struck only one and two escudos. Very few one escudo survive--the first is dated 1685--suggesting that the original mintages were small & episodic. Bogota one escudos showing a legible date are extremely rare before assayer Molano (1730's). Late in the 1730's, faced with large new gold deposits to refine and coin, Molano began to strike four and eight escudos. Four and eight escudos were struck for 20 years, until the switch to milled coinage in 1756.
Our knowledge of
Colombian gold (and silver) cobs is heavily indebted to four
shipwrecks. The Mesuno wreck of 1636 and the Maravillas shipwreck of
1656 added greatly to our knowledge of Philip IV era Colombian gold.
The 1715 Fleet Florida wrecks did the same for late Carlos II and
early Philip V issues, and of course the 1622 wreck of the Atocha
has been a key player in sorting out the first gold & silver issues
of 1621-22.
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