SCUBA NEWS MAGAZINE
Page 30 × July ‘08,7, Jacksonville, FL

The Practical Book of Cobs By Daniel Frank Sedwick and Frank Sedwick

Daniel Frank Sedwick is a second generation nusmismatist specializing in Spanish colonial coins and coinage and shipwreck artifacts recovered by salvors from sunken galleons. His father, the late Frank Sedwick,was a renowned expert in Spanish cob coins.
Cobs are those oddities minted in the NewWorld from clipped planchets of silver, hand stamped with dies. Each coin is a work of art
and each reveals the history of Spain’s colonial rule in the Americas.
The Practical Book of Cobs is now available in an enlarged, illustrated Fourth Edition. This is Sedwick’s Twentieth Anniversary Edition of a classic reference work. The new edition is the result of extensive study over more than two decades by father and son, both noted coin experts. The book includes a map that charts 55 shipwrecks around the world that yielded Spanish cob coins.
There is a wonderful story told about the late Frank Sedwick by Bob Weller, who worked the Florida Keys in the early sixties when it was finders keepers on the ocean floor, and Spanish galleons were being newly discovered. These modern-day explorers were the first to visit the galleons since the Spanish attempted salvage shortly after their wrecking. Many years ago Bob attended a coin show where Frank Sedwick had a booth and was offering coins for sale. “I walked by his table,” Weller recounted “This was the first time I met Frank Sedwick. I looked at his coins and told him, ‘This one’s a fake.’ He looked at me with surprise and asked, ‘How do you know?’ I told him I have a whole box of them in my car.” Weller laughed at this inauspicious first meeting. He went out to his car and brought in the box of reproduction cob coins. Bob had been producing them for sale in gift shops as tie tacks, earrings and souvenirs.
More than twenty years have passed and the Sedwicks have become recognized as world experts in cob coinage. Dan, who has
taken over the business after his father’s death, is often called upon by divers to authenticate and identify underwater finds.

The Fourth Edition of The Practical Book of Cobs brings with it original introductory material from previous editions and expanded
sections about the shipwrecks from which many cob coins were recovered.
During the 350 years of Spanish colonial rule in the New World, gold and silver was stolen from conquered Aztec, Maya and Inca people. Their ornaments were reduced to bullion and native peoples were enslaved to work Spanish mines. Spaniards sent assayers and chemists to the Americas and these men supervised production of highly refined gold and silver from ore. Once the ore was refined, coins were made in several mints. Each mint had its own stamp and the assayer’s mark was cut into the dies. As kings died the legends on the coins changed as well. Dates were stamped into cob coins but even when illegible, cobs can be identified by experts by the king’s name, mint mark and assayer. All of this vital information is provided in Sedwick’s book. In addition to extensive research information, the book has hundreds of cob coin photographs. The photos are arranged under particular mints where they were produced, such as Mexico City; Cuzco, Peru; and Guatemala City. Time periods are given for the coins. Under Mexico City, there is a note under a photograph of a bird-like shaped cob produced during the reign of Charles II, “1677-1701. Martin Lopez. The coins of this assayer are among the crudest in strike and oddest in shape of any coins ever made. Clear dates are very rarely seen.”

Since each cob coin is unique and bears so much information, by using Sedwick’s book as a guide, a diver or coin owner can identify the period and thus often identify the shipwreck from which it came. A coin from a shipwreck could not have been minted after the ship sank. Information provided in the book is so precise, that even if only partial stamping can be read from a shipwreck coin, it enables identification. For anyone interested in Spanish colonial history, shipwrecks, or coinage The Practical Book of Cobs is a must. It is an interesting read and offers insight into treasure coins from a fascinating period of conquest. The book is an essential guide and reference
work for divers and shipwreck enthusiasts, with information that is not readily available or only available after searching many reference
works or auction catalogs. Value ranges for cob coins are provided in an appendix.
Paperback 5 1/2 x 8”, 254 pages, illustrated.