1711 Colombia Charles II 2 Escudos Gold Cob NGC MS64 1715 Fleet Shipwreck

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1711 Charles II Colombia Gold Cob 2 Escudos NGC MS62 1715 Fleet Shipwreck Rare date & Finest Known

The Sunken Treasure That Funded Blackbeard!

300 years ago, a fleet of 11 ships left the New World loaded with a variety of treasures. Named for the Spanish word for silver, the Plate Fleet was struck by a hurricane off Cape Canaveral, Florida, on July 31, 1715. The entire fleet was lost, and 1,000 sailors lost their lives. The survivors did what they could to salvage as much of the treasure as possible, but soon other ships, having heard the news, came calling -- and with little desire to help the survivors. 120,000 Escudos, also known as "Pieces of Eight" were stolen and brought back to Jamaica.

Eventually, the raiders turned to outright piracy, helping establish the legendary pirate haven in the Bahamas that would support Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, "Calico" Jack Rackham, Charles Vane and other notorious pirates set on stealing as much of the lost treasure as possible. Eventually they would branch out their pirating operations, but the wreck of the Plate Fleet stands as one of the most important events in pirate history.

For nearly 250 years the sea would hold the treasure captive. Only occasionally tossing a blackened silver peso or gold escudo that were stuck together at would-be discovers 100 feet from the Florida shoreline. In 2015 only 295 gold coins were found by divers exploring the area on the 300th anniversary of the disaster. Tightly controlled, all of these would be sold in 2016 and 2017.

This is a very high grade Colombia Cob Gold 2 Escudo Charles II type NGC MS64 from the 1715 Fleet shipwreck find. It will be very hard to find anything from the shipwreck nicer than this specimen.

This is only MS64 available and the Finest Known.

Guaranteed Genuine