SOLD Golden Fleece Shipwreck 4 Reales Pendant. Please Explore Our Spanish Treasure Pendants For Similar Items.

Item #5111
$2,500.00
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  • Spanish 4 Reales. Assayer: “G” Juan Gutierrez
  • Mint: Mexico City. Date: 1542 - 1548
  • Monarch: Johanna and Charles I
  • Grade: Very Fine
  • Silver Coin in 14k Gold Pendant, Weight 21g
  • Framed Coin Size: (Large) 37mm Diameter, with 6.5mm Bail Opening for Necklace
  • Size Chart with mm to inches Conversions

Description:

This is a genuine silver coin salvaged from the Spanish "Golden Fleece" shipwreck that sank circa 1550 in international waters west of Cuba. The shipwreck site was discovered in 1993 and became known as the "Golden Fleece" for the royal stampings on recovered gold bars and silver ingots which bear the stamp of the “Order of the Golden Fleece.” Spanish King Charles I (1516 – 1555) was credited for reviving the Order of the Golden Fleece in the early 1500s.
There were only several thousand silver coins recovered from this Caribbean Sea shipwreck but they are among the very first coins minted in the New World. The Mexican mint opened in 1536 under the joint reign of mother “Johanna the Mad” and her son Charles I. During their reign, the territories in New Spain were considerably extended by conquistadors like Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro.
This 16th century hand struck four reales coin features the Charles & Johanna crowned coat of arms on the obverse and the Pillars of Hercules on the reverse. Coins from the “Golden Fleece" shipwreck are among the finest ever salvaged from that era and are very similar to those recovered from the 1554 fleet which sank off of Padre Island, Texas.