Fellow 1715 Fleet Society Members,
As you know, more than three hundred years ago, the 1715 Treasure Fleet was lost off the coast of Florida when a violent hurricane destroyed one of the greatest concentrations of Spanish colonial wealth ever assembled. Eleven ships carrying gold, silver, and precious cargo from the New World were wrecked, their treasures scattered across the ocean floor and lost beneath the Atlantic. For generations, the story of the fleet has stood at the intersection of empire, tragedy, and legend.
Yet even within that legend, there are degrees of rarity.
Most collectors of 1715 Fleet gold encounter coins from the more available colonial mints of Mexico and Nueva Granada/Colombia. Lima, Peru is different. Lima gold from the Fleet exists in a far smaller universe, and within that already elite category, the 2 escudos denomination stands among the most elusive and desirable of all. These are not simply scarce shipwreck coins. They are survivors from one of the rarest corners of the entire 1715 Fleet series.
Today, Finest Known, LLC is honored to present two extraordinary examples that rise above even that exalted company.
The first is a 1704 Lima, Peru 2 Escudos, certified by NGC as MS64. According to the census information provided, it stands alone as the single finest known example of its date recovered from the 1715 Fleet, with none graded higher, none in MS63, and only one in MS62. It is a condition rarity of the highest order, occupying a tier that appears almost untouched by the market.
The second is a 1702 Lima, Peru 2 Escudos, certified by NGC as MS62, and represented as tied for finest known, with no examples certified above MS62. In a field where so few pieces exist at all, the appearance of a finest-known example is remarkable. The appearance of two such coins together is something far beyond ordinary.
Hand-struck in Lima on irregular planchets, these coins were created to move wealth across an empire. Instead, they were swept into disaster and lay on the ocean floor for roughly three centuries, preserved beneath sand and saltwater until the modern recovery of the 1715 Fleet brought them back into human hands.
Recovered 300 years to the month after the wreck from the historic Douglas Beach site, these coins are not merely artifacts. They are witnesses. They survived hurricane, shipwreck, centuries beneath the sea, disappearance into private hands of a rogue diver, and eventual recovery by the FBI. What stands before us now is not simply gold, but history made tangible with a provenance that tells many tales.
Their appeal lies not only in rarity, but in the astonishing improbability that such small, hand-struck pieces could endure and emerge at this level of preservation. The romance of the 1715 Fleet is powerful enough on its own. In coins such as these, that romance becomes something extraordinary.
In support of the work of the 1715 Fleet Society, 2% of all revenues collected from the sale of these coins will be donated to the Society, in recognition of its important role in preserving, studying, and advancing public understanding of this remarkable chapter of maritime and numismatic history. If you acquire the aforementioned coins, or any of the other few listed below and are not yet a member of the 1715 Fleet Society, Finest Known will purchase your lifetime membership and you too can continue on this intellectual stimulating journey of this historic numismatic treasure trove.
Opportunities of this caliber are exceptionally rare. Peru 2 escudos from the 1715 Fleet are exceedingly rare to begin with. Finest-known examples are rarer still. Two together is the sort of offering that advanced collectors may never encounter again.
History did not merely survive here. It resurfaced in its most beautiful form.
If you have interest in these or any other treasures from the 1715 Fleet, please contact Fellow Fleet Society Member, Troy Baker at 949-637-9877.
Whether to add to your collection or sell coins from the Fleet, he stands ready to serve your needs.
Adam Crum
President
Finest Known, LLC
Douglas Beach Coins Available Now
Please call Troy Baker direct
(949) 637-9877
Rare Coins, Real Assets, Timeless Value
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