The name of the game these days is gold. This auction is no exception, with more than 240 gold coins from around the world for sale, of which over 100 lots are gold cobs—many more than we have had in any previous auction—including The Santa Fe Collection of dated Bogotá cob 2 escudos, a landmark reference collection of over 50 different dates, showing changes of styles and assayers over the 130 years of their production. This educational collection, which contains several “first and finest knowns,” was carefully formed within the past decade with emphasis on clearly visible dates to eliminate confusion in this series from misreading of partial dates. Like the Dr. Frank Sedwick Collection of Colombia Republic Gold Coins offered in our 9^th auction, the Santa Fe Collection should appeal to collectors of all “Gran Colombia,” including Venezuela and Ecuador.

  The single most important gold piece in this sale, however, is a Brazilian gold monetized ingot of 1832, cast at the Serro Frio foundry under Emperor Pedro II, a very late and exceptionally rare example with its original foundry certificate (known as a guia), something that less than 10% of the known ingots still have today. Every time one of these Brazilian ingots comes up for sale it is a major numismatic event, and ours has reason to be even more so.

The show of gold does not end there: In the Shipwreck Ingots section we feature (for the first time in our auctions) a gold bar from the “Tumbaga” wreck of circa 1528, one of only a handful known, cast from the first spoils of New World conquest. In the Shipwreck Artifacts section are several other important gold items, namely a high-grade emerald cross from the 1715 Fleet, a filigree devotional scapular from a circa-1800 wreck, and—best of all—the ornate gold ring embedded in debris from the 1733 Fleet that was featured on the cover of Marty Meylach’s Flash of Gold book. All of these are unique and spectacular items, no matter what the spot price of gold happens to be!

 Silver is hot now too, and if you are a speculator, there is no better way to buy treasure silver in bulk than in the form of large Atocha silver ingots, of which we have three in this sale. There are also several “tumbaga” silver ingots, neatly cast Dutch ingots, and a handful of others—all from shipwrecks!

 This auction marks our second significant offering of coins from the São José wreck of 1622, the first selection of the best specimens found, all numismatically important (dates and rarities), as a sort of “research collection.” They also come with original certificates and display boxes and are officially encapsulated by NGC.

The Shipwreck Silver Coins section of this auction also features countermarked Potosí 8 reales and 4 reales from the Capitana (1654) and Maravillas (1656) wrecks, a selection of rarities that almost rivals the Louis Hudson collection in our 6^th auction two years ago. These countermarks are virtually unknown outside of the limited quantities from these two ships.

The various non-wreck cobs sections that follow have more silver cob 8 reales than we have ever offered in any previous auction, including several date-runs and BIG wholesale groups of chopmarked Mexican 8 reales and Panama-hoard (ca. 1629) Potosí 8 reales. Collectors of 4 reales will note a significant date-run collection of Lima and Potosí cob 4 reales, by far the hardest denomination to collect by date. But the truly special items here are Hearts, Royals and the first machine-made trial-strike 2 reales known from Guatemala.

 We round out the numismatic part of the sale with Ancient Coins and World Silver Coins, including Chinese ingots, some very rare early Colombian issues, important French coins, and MINT STATE Mexican pillar dollars. Following that are Medals & Tokens and Documents, including banknotes.

The Non-Wreck Artifacts section this time contains a special offering of cannons, including several of the largest we have ever offered. Big cannons do not come up for sale often, and they are always impressive! Following the cannons is a healthy selection of firearms and swords.

            It is a jam-packed array of treasure, as usual—good luck and happy hunting!