Rare 1750L R Peru Gold Cob 4 Escudos NGC MS63 Nuestra Senora La Luz Shipwreck

1750L R Peru Gold Cob 4 Escudos NGC MS63

Nuestra Senora de La Luz Shipwreck

NGC has recovered only 20 examples, 6 are in MS63 and 8 finer.

Hand struck wide flan, with sharply detailed and well-centered strike with full cross-lions-castles and pillars-and-waves with clear date, beautiful color all over. From the La Luz 1752 shipwreck. Pedigreed to the original Uruguayan Treasure of the River Plate auction (Sotheby's London, March 1993, lot 26)

Brief history of this Shipwreck:

The La Luz left Buenos Aires in the summer of 1752 with a load of gold and silver from the New World bound for Spain. It had just stopped in Montevideo, Uruguay for provisioning when a strong storm swept her into the coastline, spreading wreckage over a wide area and killing all on board. 90% of the treasure on board was recovered soon afterwards.

In April of 1992, divers began to recover gold coins on a wreck-site in the Río de la Plata, and soon it became clear the wreck in question had to be from 1751 or 1752, as none of the coins was dated later than 1751. The finds, which were split with the Uruguayan government and then sold at auction in New York through Sotheby’s and a Montevideo auction house. The coins consisted of mostly milled (bust-type) 8 escudos from the new Spanish mint at Santiago, Chile. In these auctions were 95 beautiful gold cobs and 353 silver cobs, the gold mostly Lima, Peru 8 and 4 escudos and some Bogotá 2 escudos. A very small but significant shipwreck find. Peruvian Shipwreck Gold remains one of the hottest sectors of the market mainly due to the craftsmanship and low survival rate from the mint.

Guaranteed Genuine by NGC