Lucayan Beach Pirate Treasure 8 Reales

Description

10,000 silver cobs (dated up to and including 1628) were
discoved in 1964 in 10 feet of water just 1,300 yards from the Lucayan Beach Hotel, In the Bahamas. The mystery of identifying the lost vessel has never been solved. One theory associates the shipwreck with the taking of the Spanish 1628 Fleet in Matanzas Bay, Cuba, by the Dutch pirate and national hero Piet Heyn, who reported losing two of the vessels on the way back to Europe. Three possible ships are the
Van Lynden
, the
Santa Gertrude
(or
Gertrudis
) and the
Romario
,
with little evidence to support any of the attributions. Most of the recovered coins are Mexican 8 and 4 reales of the assayer-D period. This coin comes in a white clamshell boxes produced by Spink & Son (London) in the 1960s for a promotion that capped off years of disagreements between the salvagers, their backers and the Bahamian government. Also included is a Spink & Son certificate and a sales receipt from 1971. The original price was 16 pounds!
Thanks,
Peter Scherff
ANA Life Member 4085