Bolivia 8 Reales 1598-1621 "Santa Margarita 1622 Shipwreck" RAW
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BOLIVIA, Potosí mint, Philip III, 8 Reales, ND (1598–1621), KM-10. 23.02 grams. Grade III, XF (Shipwreck Effect).
Recovered from the Santa Margarita, sunk in 1622 off Key West, Florida. Accompanied by original Treasure Salvors tag and photo-certificate #7890.
This extraordinary 8 reales silver cob, struck at the Potosí mint during the reign of King Philip III, is a tangible remnant of one of the most tragic and storied maritime disasters of the Spanish colonial era—the 1622 hurricane that decimated Spain’s treasure fleet in the waters off the Florida Keys. Salvaged from the wreck of the Santa Margarita, sister ship to the famed Nuestra Señora de Atocha, this piece of shipwreck treasure connects us to a world of imperial ambition, global commerce, and perilous transatlantic voyages.
Minted sometime between 1598 and 1621—the span of Philip III’s rule—this cob would have been part of the immense wealth extracted from the mines of Potosí, in modern-day Bolivia, the beating heart of Spain’s colonial economy. During Philip’s reign, silver was not merely a medium of exchange but the lifeblood of the empire—funding wars, underwriting alliances, and sustaining the grandeur of the Spanish court. Yet while the galleons that carried this wealth gleamed with promise, they sailed at the mercy of nature and human error.
The Santa Margarita and Atocha were part of the Tierra Firme fleet that departed Havana on September 4, 1622, bound for Spain with one of the richest cargos ever assembled. Their holds were filled with silver coins, gold bars, emerald-studded jewelry, worked silverware, and precious religious artifacts—some officially registered, much of it smuggled to avoid the Crown's quinto real (royal fifth). Just one day into their voyage, the fleet was caught in a violent hurricane, and many ships—including the Santa Margarita—were torn apart on the reefs near the Florida Keys, spilling treasure across the ocean floor.
The Spanish crown mounted urgent salvage operations, employing Indigenous and African divers to recover what they could. While some treasure was retrieved, much of the cargo—especially from the Santa Margarita—remained lost for centuries, its memory preserved only in imperial records and legends whispered by fishermen along Florida’s “Treasure Coast.”
That silence was broken in the late 20th century, when modern treasure hunter Mel Fisher launched a historic, high-stakes search for the lost fleet. By the early 1980s, Fisher’s team began to uncover artifacts from the Santa Margarita—gold bars, silver coins, elaborate gold chains, and personal belongings frozen in time. Unlike the dramatic “motherlode” discovery of the Atocha in 1985, the Santa Margarita’s riches were scattered, her recovery slower and more intricate. Yet what she revealed was no less dazzling: unparalleled examples of Spanish colonial craftsmanship and a deeper window into 17th-century material culture, trade, and faith.
This 8 reales coin, worn by centuries underwater yet still bearing the unmistakable marks of royal minting and oceanic endurance, is more than just silver—it is a relic of empire, shipwreck, and rediscovery. It speaks of a time when Spain’s global ambitions were both gilded and doomed, when fortunes were counted in doubloons and dreams of glory sailed at the mercy of wind and water.x
Click Here to read more about the 'Atocha 1622 Shipwreck'
Recovered from the Santa Margarita, sunk in 1622 off Key West, Florida. Accompanied by original Treasure Salvors tag and photo-certificate #7890.
This extraordinary 8 reales silver cob, struck at the Potosí mint during the reign of King Philip III, is a tangible remnant of one of the most tragic and storied maritime disasters of the Spanish colonial era—the 1622 hurricane that decimated Spain’s treasure fleet in the waters off the Florida Keys. Salvaged from the wreck of the Santa Margarita, sister ship to the famed Nuestra Señora de Atocha, this piece of shipwreck treasure connects us to a world of imperial ambition, global commerce, and perilous transatlantic voyages.
Minted sometime between 1598 and 1621—the span of Philip III’s rule—this cob would have been part of the immense wealth extracted from the mines of Potosí, in modern-day Bolivia, the beating heart of Spain’s colonial economy. During Philip’s reign, silver was not merely a medium of exchange but the lifeblood of the empire—funding wars, underwriting alliances, and sustaining the grandeur of the Spanish court. Yet while the galleons that carried this wealth gleamed with promise, they sailed at the mercy of nature and human error.
The Santa Margarita and Atocha were part of the Tierra Firme fleet that departed Havana on September 4, 1622, bound for Spain with one of the richest cargos ever assembled. Their holds were filled with silver coins, gold bars, emerald-studded jewelry, worked silverware, and precious religious artifacts—some officially registered, much of it smuggled to avoid the Crown's quinto real (royal fifth). Just one day into their voyage, the fleet was caught in a violent hurricane, and many ships—including the Santa Margarita—were torn apart on the reefs near the Florida Keys, spilling treasure across the ocean floor.
The Spanish crown mounted urgent salvage operations, employing Indigenous and African divers to recover what they could. While some treasure was retrieved, much of the cargo—especially from the Santa Margarita—remained lost for centuries, its memory preserved only in imperial records and legends whispered by fishermen along Florida’s “Treasure Coast.”
That silence was broken in the late 20th century, when modern treasure hunter Mel Fisher launched a historic, high-stakes search for the lost fleet. By the early 1980s, Fisher’s team began to uncover artifacts from the Santa Margarita—gold bars, silver coins, elaborate gold chains, and personal belongings frozen in time. Unlike the dramatic “motherlode” discovery of the Atocha in 1985, the Santa Margarita’s riches were scattered, her recovery slower and more intricate. Yet what she revealed was no less dazzling: unparalleled examples of Spanish colonial craftsmanship and a deeper window into 17th-century material culture, trade, and faith.
This 8 reales coin, worn by centuries underwater yet still bearing the unmistakable marks of royal minting and oceanic endurance, is more than just silver—it is a relic of empire, shipwreck, and rediscovery. It speaks of a time when Spain’s global ambitions were both gilded and doomed, when fortunes were counted in doubloons and dreams of glory sailed at the mercy of wind and water.x
Click Here to read more about the 'Atocha 1622 Shipwreck'
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