A silver real
A silver real, c. 1649-1651, pulled up from a shipwrecked Spanish galleon.
The Santa Maria de la Consolación was a small galleon which was was part of a larger fleet of Spanish galleons called the South Sea Armada which carried treasure between Peru and Panama.
The Santa Maria de la Consolación purportedly sank near Santa Clara Island while evading pirates in 1681. She was carrying 146,000 pesos in minted silver coins along with 800 silver bars, and gold ingots valued at 34,000 pesos. The legend says that Consolación was reportedly torched by the crew after they ran aground near Santa Clara Island to stop the pirates from getting the treasure she carried and the pirates furious at having lost their prize b*headed the entire crew.
The shipwreck was found in 1997 and marine archeologists discovered documents and a ship’s manifest in the archives of Spain which identified the wreck as the Santa Maria de la Consolación.
Source: Rich McKay for Ocean Treasure.
Photo: Thomas Numismatics.
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