Monday, September 5, 2011

A Spanish Doubloon

A small artifact can embody so much history - if only it could speak and tell us its story. Here we have a Spanish doubloon which dates back to the sixteenth century. This piece was found by a diver at Bassas da India atoll off the Mozambican coast near South Africa - a most treacherous reef and graveyard for many ships where salvage divers have recovered many artifacts and Spanish doubloons.

The markings of this coin indicate the Royal Hapsburg family coat of arms which is pictured on the front of this coin. The doubloon's reverse features a "Crusader's Cross," a lion, and a castle. Doubloons were handmade so most of them were not uniformly round and often excess bits would be cut by hand. Doubloons were minted in Spain, Mexico and Peru from the 16th century to the mid-19th century and initially had a two-escudo denomination. In later years, they were also issued in one, four and eight escudo amounts.

If you are interested, please read added links to websites (below) with more information on Spanish doubloons and their history. Let your imagination travel back a few hundred years to an era of gold and silver coins, shipwrecks, pirate lore and sunken treasure.

A heart felt 'thank you' for visiting our website.











2 comments:

Keith said...

A good & interesting post, thank you. Posted here: http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/real-spanish-doubloon-link.html
Regards, Keith.
PS. Love the image of your Mother-in-law's bike, I had one just like it. Still miss it!

Michelle said...

Thank you Keith. I am so happy you enjoyed the post on the old coin. It belongs to my father-in-law, who supplies this website with all these wonderful artifacts. We have a lot to add in the coming months. The image of my mother-in-law in front of the bike is great - I had to add to our blog! Maybe you should get another bike like the one you had, even just to admire it! All the best from us folks here on Vancouver Island. Michelle

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