Bolivia 8 Reales 1618-1621 "Santa Margarita 1622 Shipwreck" RAW
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Bolivia, Philip III, Cob 8 Reales, ND (1618–1621), Potosí mint, KM-10, Cal-Type 165 (Castles & Lions Transposed Variety). 13.86 grams. XF (Shipwreck Effect), Grade III.
Recovered from the Santa Margarita, wrecked in 1622 off the coast of Key West, Florida.
Includes original Treasure Salvors tag and photo-certificate #685.
This rugged, sea-worn 8 reales silver cob from the Potosí mint offers a compelling intersection of numismatic rarity, maritime tragedy, and imperial ambition. Struck in the final years of King Philip III’s reign (1598–1621), it bears the hallmark Castles & Lions Transposed variety—a classic Potosí mint error—and was recovered from the sunken remains of the ill-fated Spanish galleon Santa Margarita, which perished in the catastrophic hurricane of 1622.
King Philip III’s rule marked a turning point in Habsburg Spain’s imperial fortunes. Though the Spanish Empire still spanned continents—from the Americas to Asia—his reign was increasingly characterized by political withdrawal, religious orthodoxy, and costly military entanglements. A pious and aloof monarch, Philip delegated much of the governance to his favorite, the Duke of Lerma, whose corruption and inefficiency weakened the Crown’s grip on its vast holdings. Meanwhile, Spain’s reliance on New World silver only deepened, making transatlantic treasure fleets like the one carrying the Santa Margarita both an economic lifeline and a perilous necessity.
The Santa Margarita set sail from Havana in early September 1622, part of the Tierra Firme fleet transporting immense wealth from the Americas back to Spain. Its cargo included tons of silver coins like this cob, gold ingots, emeralds, jewelry, and religious relics—both official and smuggled to avoid taxation by the Crown. Just one day into the voyage, the fleet was ambushed by a powerful hurricane. The Santa Margarita and her sister ship, the famed Nuestra Señora de Atocha, were torn apart in the shallow waters of the Florida Keys. While the Spanish mounted salvage operations using enslaved African and Indigenous divers, their efforts yielded only fragments of the lost treasure.
For centuries, the Santa Margarita remained a sunken mystery, until modern treasure hunter Mel Fisher launched a painstaking search for the 1622 fleet. By the early 1980s, his team had uncovered dispersed remnants of the Santa Margarita’s payload—silver reales, gold chains, and opulent ecclesiastical artifacts. Unlike the concentrated “motherlode” of the Atocha discovered in 1985, the Santa Margarita’s riches were scattered, her story harder to reconstruct but no less captivating. Every recovered item, including this beautifully corroded cob, adds to the mosaic of 17th-century maritime life, colonial wealth, and the inherent risks of global empire.
Weighing 13.86 grams and graded XF with visible "Shipwreck Effect," this coin is not merely a relic of currency—it is a witness to catastrophe, a fragment of imperial Spain’s ambition, and a survivor of one of the most storied treasure fleets in history. Now preserved with its original Treasure Salvors certificate, it invites the modern collector into a world of high-seas drama, colonial politics, and enduring mystery.x
Click Here to read more about the 'Atocha 1622 Shipwreck'
Recovered from the Santa Margarita, wrecked in 1622 off the coast of Key West, Florida.
Includes original Treasure Salvors tag and photo-certificate #685.
This rugged, sea-worn 8 reales silver cob from the Potosí mint offers a compelling intersection of numismatic rarity, maritime tragedy, and imperial ambition. Struck in the final years of King Philip III’s reign (1598–1621), it bears the hallmark Castles & Lions Transposed variety—a classic Potosí mint error—and was recovered from the sunken remains of the ill-fated Spanish galleon Santa Margarita, which perished in the catastrophic hurricane of 1622.
King Philip III’s rule marked a turning point in Habsburg Spain’s imperial fortunes. Though the Spanish Empire still spanned continents—from the Americas to Asia—his reign was increasingly characterized by political withdrawal, religious orthodoxy, and costly military entanglements. A pious and aloof monarch, Philip delegated much of the governance to his favorite, the Duke of Lerma, whose corruption and inefficiency weakened the Crown’s grip on its vast holdings. Meanwhile, Spain’s reliance on New World silver only deepened, making transatlantic treasure fleets like the one carrying the Santa Margarita both an economic lifeline and a perilous necessity.
The Santa Margarita set sail from Havana in early September 1622, part of the Tierra Firme fleet transporting immense wealth from the Americas back to Spain. Its cargo included tons of silver coins like this cob, gold ingots, emeralds, jewelry, and religious relics—both official and smuggled to avoid taxation by the Crown. Just one day into the voyage, the fleet was ambushed by a powerful hurricane. The Santa Margarita and her sister ship, the famed Nuestra Señora de Atocha, were torn apart in the shallow waters of the Florida Keys. While the Spanish mounted salvage operations using enslaved African and Indigenous divers, their efforts yielded only fragments of the lost treasure.
For centuries, the Santa Margarita remained a sunken mystery, until modern treasure hunter Mel Fisher launched a painstaking search for the 1622 fleet. By the early 1980s, his team had uncovered dispersed remnants of the Santa Margarita’s payload—silver reales, gold chains, and opulent ecclesiastical artifacts. Unlike the concentrated “motherlode” of the Atocha discovered in 1985, the Santa Margarita’s riches were scattered, her story harder to reconstruct but no less captivating. Every recovered item, including this beautifully corroded cob, adds to the mosaic of 17th-century maritime life, colonial wealth, and the inherent risks of global empire.
Weighing 13.86 grams and graded XF with visible "Shipwreck Effect," this coin is not merely a relic of currency—it is a witness to catastrophe, a fragment of imperial Spain’s ambition, and a survivor of one of the most storied treasure fleets in history. Now preserved with its original Treasure Salvors certificate, it invites the modern collector into a world of high-seas drama, colonial politics, and enduring mystery.x
Click Here to read more about the 'Atocha 1622 Shipwreck'
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