| Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC > Treasure Auction 35 | Auction date: 7 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 40 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: MEXICO, Mexico City, gold cob 8 escudos, (1714) J, Royal dies, NGC MS 64 (1715 Fleet Shipwreck Label), ex-Kip Wagner (stated on label), Pieces of Eight and National Geographic Plate. S-M30; Cal-unl; KM-unl. 26.98 grams. After the Real Eight Company started finding gold on the 1715 Fleet in the early 1960s, Kip Wagner got the idea to present an article in National Geographic and publish a book, with the same photos in both, and naturally he wanted to show off coins he had saved for himself as the best. Between Kip's thumbs and forefingers these you can see two Mexican 8 escudos, one shield-side out and the other cross-side out, the present coin being the former. What he probably did not know is that this coin has a reason for being so pretty: It is struck from the same dies as the elegant Royals (galanos) of that year. One could speculate that this piece on a smaller (but still round) and less even flan was a test strike (like some others known, some of which are roundish and some of which are not), but its perfect centering and nearly undoubled impression make for uniformly sharp central details, not just the full shield and cross but also the oMJ and denomination VIII. What tells you it is a Royal is the presence of quatrefoil ornaments above and below the oMJ and VIII as well as "daggers" in the dimples of the tressure around the cross. The peripheries, however, including the date, are flat and beveled like a typical cob of this period. With light toning over ample luster, combined with its unique and important pedigree, this coin should be considered one of the top trophies of the 1715 Fleet. From the 1715 Fleet, plated on page 1 in the article "Drowned Galleons Yield Spanish Gold" in the January 1965 issue of National Geographic and on photo plate opposite page 129 in Pieces of Eight, by Kip Wagner (1st ed., 1966), with copies of both publications as well as a certificate and Frank Sedwick invoices and letter of provenance from 1990, also pedigreed to the Superior auction of May 1990 (lot 6565), there described as "from the estate of Kip Wagner." Estimate: $35000 - $70000 |  |
