Bolivia 2 Reales "Atocha 1622 Shipwreck" Chest #1825
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Bolivia 2 Reales Atocha 1622 Shipwreck Chest #1925 — Mel Fisher COA & flip An exceptional small-denomination treasure from one of the most storied wrecks in maritime history. This handsome 2 reales—struck in the great silverworks of Potosí (modern-day Bolivia)—was recovered in Chest #1825 from the wreck site of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, and is accompanied by the Mel Fisher Certificate of Authenticity and protective flip.
The present piece displays a pleasingly round planchet with a Full Cross on the reverse and unusually strong strike detail for its denomination. Surface preservation is particularly notable: the central fields read boldly and the legends and cross arms remain crisply resolved. While the Mel Fisher COA records the coin as a grade 3, on handling it presents with the eye-appeal and sharpness of a higher grade — in our opinion closer to a Grade 1 condition within the sunk-wreck category — a testament to both the original strike quality at Potosí and the protective environment within the chest.
Historical context elevates this small coin far beyond its face value. The Atocha was part of the 1622 Spanish treasure fleet that succumbed to a hurricane off the Florida Keys, carrying the wealth of the New World — silver ingots and coinage from Potosí’s Cerro Rico, Peruvian and Bolivian mines, as well as cargoes of copper, textiles and fine emeralds from Colombia. The Atocha’s rediscovery by Mel Fisher’s team in 1985 remains one of the most important recoveries in nautical archaeology, producing a stupendous assemblage of coins, bars and personal objects that transformed our material understanding of 17th-century Spanish maritime commerce.
A note on rarity and collecting significance: within Atocha and other colonial wreck recoveries the 2 reales occupies a special place. Unlike the ubiquitous 8 reales (“piece of eight”), which were minted expressly for long-distance trade and often loaded aboard treasure galleons in bulk, lower denominations such as the 2 reales were primarily used for everyday transactions and local commerce. They circulated more heavily, were more frequently clipped, cut, holed or melted down, and historically fewer were set aside in ship’s strongboxes as specie destined for large-scale international exchange. As a result, intact 2 reales from wreck contexts are comparatively scarce and highly prized by connoisseurs who value both rarity and the intimate social history they embody — the small coin that connected a mine in Potosí to a market in Havana and, on this occasion, to the deep.
Provenance: Recovered from Nuestra Señora de Atocha’s Chest #1825; accompanied by Mel Fisher COA and flip. Condition as described above; ideal for the specialist collector of Spanish colonial coinage or the connoisseur assembling a wreck-provenance cabinet of curiosities.
A rare opportunity to acquire a tangible, well-preserved fragment of transatlantic history — a humble monetary unit that tells the larger story of empire, extraction and the hazards of seaborne trade.x(6)
'Click Here to read more about 'Atocha 1622 Shipwreck'
The present piece displays a pleasingly round planchet with a Full Cross on the reverse and unusually strong strike detail for its denomination. Surface preservation is particularly notable: the central fields read boldly and the legends and cross arms remain crisply resolved. While the Mel Fisher COA records the coin as a grade 3, on handling it presents with the eye-appeal and sharpness of a higher grade — in our opinion closer to a Grade 1 condition within the sunk-wreck category — a testament to both the original strike quality at Potosí and the protective environment within the chest.
Historical context elevates this small coin far beyond its face value. The Atocha was part of the 1622 Spanish treasure fleet that succumbed to a hurricane off the Florida Keys, carrying the wealth of the New World — silver ingots and coinage from Potosí’s Cerro Rico, Peruvian and Bolivian mines, as well as cargoes of copper, textiles and fine emeralds from Colombia. The Atocha’s rediscovery by Mel Fisher’s team in 1985 remains one of the most important recoveries in nautical archaeology, producing a stupendous assemblage of coins, bars and personal objects that transformed our material understanding of 17th-century Spanish maritime commerce.
A note on rarity and collecting significance: within Atocha and other colonial wreck recoveries the 2 reales occupies a special place. Unlike the ubiquitous 8 reales (“piece of eight”), which were minted expressly for long-distance trade and often loaded aboard treasure galleons in bulk, lower denominations such as the 2 reales were primarily used for everyday transactions and local commerce. They circulated more heavily, were more frequently clipped, cut, holed or melted down, and historically fewer were set aside in ship’s strongboxes as specie destined for large-scale international exchange. As a result, intact 2 reales from wreck contexts are comparatively scarce and highly prized by connoisseurs who value both rarity and the intimate social history they embody — the small coin that connected a mine in Potosí to a market in Havana and, on this occasion, to the deep.
Provenance: Recovered from Nuestra Señora de Atocha’s Chest #1825; accompanied by Mel Fisher COA and flip. Condition as described above; ideal for the specialist collector of Spanish colonial coinage or the connoisseur assembling a wreck-provenance cabinet of curiosities.
A rare opportunity to acquire a tangible, well-preserved fragment of transatlantic history — a humble monetary unit that tells the larger story of empire, extraction and the hazards of seaborne trade.x(6)
'Click Here to read more about 'Atocha 1622 Shipwreck'
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