Hollandia Shipwreck - 8 Reales - Mexico Mint - Dated 1742 - Set of four bits.
$1,800
Denomination: 8 Reales
Mint: Mexico
Assayer: M.F. (Joint Assayers)
Date: 1742
Weight: 21.22 gm (total)
Reign: Philip V
Description: 8 Reales Mexico minted Spanish Cob. Obverse: King’s Monogram with crowned shield. Reverse: Crowned Globe between the Pillars of Hercules. Dated 1742. Set of four bits; 4 bits, 2 bits, 1 bit, 1/2 bit.
History: The Hollandia’s treasure was forgotten until 1967. Rex Cowan, an explorer and lawyer from London, began to search through archives and official documents for the Hollandia. Four years later, on September 16, 1971, he precisely located the wreck with a proton magnetometer. The treasure hunter gathered divers and professionals who started the archaeological excavations. In two years, 35,000 silver coins and bronze artifacts were brought to the surface.
The Hollandia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company. On the night of 13 July 1743. During her maiden voyage from Texel in the Netherlands to Batavia (Indonesia) she struck Gunner Rock near Annet in the Scilly Isles. All 276 crewmen and 30 passengers died in the sinking, carrying 276 people and small barrels filled with silver coins worth approximately 129,700 florins. The coins were mainly Spanish coins, four and eight Reales, minted in Mexico and Bolivia and they had hardly circulated before this trip.
On the obverse, the Spanish royal arms appear. On the reverse, the columns of Hercules, draped with the motto of Spain “Plus ultra”, frame the two worlds. The old and new worlds are now united by the Spanish crown, as confirmed by the words “Ultra que unum” (the two are one).
