Our featured Treasure of the Month for June is this gorgeous, fully dated 1714 Mexico eight escudos from the Spanish colonial mint at Mexico City. The coin’s Fleet provenance is obvious. What is not obvious is its recent pedigree. This piece holds the distinction of being portrayed in two of the most iconic 1715 Fleet publications ever to hit the market—-Pieces of Eight: Recovering the Riches of a Lost Spanish Treasure Fleet, by Kip Wagner and L.B. Taylor, Jr. (Dutton, 1966) and “Drowned Galleons Yield Spanish Gold,” by Kip Wagner, National Geographic Magazine (January 1965). The above coin is clearly visible as the center coin of a nine-coin image found on page 144 of Pieces of Eight. The same coin is seen again on page 37 of the National Geographic article. There Kip Wagner appears to be lifting the coin from the surf. Close examination reveals that it is identical to the one featured in Pieces of Eight. For another coin with a famous photographic history see our April, 2013 Treasure of the Month.
