291 - A GROUP OF FIFTEEN COB SILVER COINS SALVAGED FROM THE SHIPWRECK OF THE SPANISH GALLEON NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA PURA Y LIMPIA CONCEPCIÓN, CIRCA 1630-1640

A GROUP OF FIFTEEN COB SILVER COINS SALVAGED FROM THE SHIPWRECK OF THE SPANISH GALLEON NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA PURA Y LIMPIA CONCEPCIÓN, CIRCA 1630-1640 8 reales (12), 4 reales (2) and 2 reales (1), one 8 reales of Potosí mint and the other coins all of Mexico City mint, broadly in carefully-cleaned fine to very fine original condition and of sound silver, with dates, marks and legends generally indistinct, housed in a glazed lift-out tray within a purpose-made wooden case with space below intended for certificates and related literature -- 6 x 18 x 15¼in. (15 x 46 x 38.5cm.); 302g. (a lot) Fatally hurricane-damaged, the 600-ton Concepción was wrecked on the treacherous ‘Silver Shoals’ coral bank off Hispaniola in early November, 1641. A portion of her rich cargo of treasure was salvaged by Captain William Phipps in 1687 before the location of the wreck was lost. Numerous attempts to rediscover it failed until 1978, when Jack Haskins and Burt Webber, guided in part by a careful study of Phipps’ original ship’s logs, finally succeeded. This is one of 2,000 such presentations which were prepared and marketed in the 1980s.