Treasure Auction #7

In three sessions, Wednesday-Friday, April 7-9, 2010

As usual our latest Treasure Auction is full of surprises, but this time we feel it is also very well balanced across many fields, with more general world coins than ever before. Here are some highlights:

In great deference to the Sedwick patriarch, for the first time ever we are offering selections from the Frank Sedwick study collection of 1715-Fleet gold cobs, including plate coins from past editions of the Practical Book of Cobs and other pieces never seen or offered for sale, coins that the pioneering “Dr. Cobs” kept as the best examples among thousands that passed through his hands. The unique opportunity to own a “Frank Sedwick” specimen will start in this auction with just two 1715-Fleet masterpieces: The finest-known Lima 4 escudos 1711 and one of the best Lima 8 escudos 1712 ever offered.

In the same category of quality as Frank Sedwick’s 1715-Fleet gold cobs is a choice Cuzco cob 2 escudos 1698, a plate coin in Marty Meylach’s classic book Diving to a Flash of Gold.

But perhaps most intriguing in the gold cobs this time is a 1715-Fleet Mexican 1 escudo that was flown aboard Apollo 14 in 1971, the only one of its kind. Before this specially engraved coin came to us, we had no idea that the Apollo astronauts included genuine shipwreck treasure in their “flown” souvenirs on their trips to the moon, but apparently the link between NASA and the Real Eight Co. was more than just geographic. We have come to understand that medallions made of 1715-Fleet silver flown to the moon are very hot with space collectors, who will no doubt go crazy for this genuine coin as well, but perhaps the treasure collectors will win out in the end.

Highlights in shipwreck silver coins include large offerings of lion daalders from the Campen (1627), Potosí cobs from the Consolación (1681) and the Boticaria site of the 1681 Fleet off Panama (first-ever offering, also with some artifacts, with updated history), and hundreds of choice (and some interestingly shaped) 1715-Fleet Mexican cobs from the estate of Karl H. Goodpaster (Real Eight Co. conservator), as well as hundreds of Mexican cobs from the Rooswijk (1739). The Goodpaster collection in particular will be fun to watch, as nothing is hotter today than Fleet silver cobs!

In the non-wreck cobs sections we feature the John Pullin collection of over 150 choice, dated Mexican silver cobs, in addition to Part II of the Mark Bir collection of cobs from Mexico, Lima and Potosi. Also highlighted are the mints of Panama and Santo Domingo, as we feature several Santo Domingo SILVER and copper coins of Charles-Joanna AND Philip II (yes, you read that right) in addition to THREE Panamanian silver cobs (half, 1 and 2 reales), following the record-setting prices for such coins in our last sale. Our Spain-cobs section has an abundance of Ferdinand-Isabel coins in all denominations, including a set once featured in the PLVS VLTRA newsletter. One last surprise: the Louis Hudson collection of zoomorphic cobs. You won’t want to miss it!

The world silver coins section this time is massive, featuring the John Pullin collection of Mexican War for Independence silver coins (just in time for this year’s Bicentennial of Mexican Independence), Mark Bir’s milled Spanish colonial coins (various mints) and a HUGE section on all periods of Venezuelan coins (over 100 coins), in addition to many other Latin American countries.

Before we get to the artifacts, let’s just say there is a wealth of gold and silver (and even copper) shipwreck ingots too, both Spanish and Dutch (VOC), including the world's ONLY gold-bar clump! This museum-piece features twin, complete bars (each over 1 kilogram and 10+” long) fused in near parallel by white coral, just the way they were found on the “Golden Fleece wreck” of ca. 1550.

And then our trademark and exclusive, shipwreck artifacts: This time we will have a genuine bronze astrolabe, the most complete and intact one we have ever handled, fully dated 1656 and well detailed, solid and stable, alidade intact, one of fewer than 80 pieces known and among the best from any wreck. We are also showcasing the famous gold box from the ca.-1810 “Coconut wreck,” the single most important item found in this deep-water salvage venture, as it contained 13 gold coins (a Spanish dowry known as an arras) wrapped in an 1809 newspaper talking about sales of slaves… and yes, the intact newspaper comes with it! There is also a genuine gold chain and massive silver candlestick from the Atocha, emeralds from many different wrecks, swords, flintlocks, and much, much more.

It’s over a million dollars’ worth of treasure all in one place, and any part of it can be yours for the high bid… we wish everyone good luck and happy hunting!