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This coin is the first known and admitted 1621 Santa fe de Bogota, Nuevo Reino Mint coin. It is an eight reale from the Atocha with the date "21" appearing at the center top above the Crusader's Cross on the reverse. This coin is also the first that has ever appeared in a book, featured in "The Forgotten Mints of Panama, by Jorge Proctor (2005, on page 84). This coin has been featured in the Coin World Magazine as well in 2005.

Article in Plus Ultra Magazine, "Rare 1621 Santa Fe de Bogota Cobs from the Atocha."

"TOGETHER AGAIN"

That could be the title we could use on these three incredibly rare Nuevo Reino, Santa fe de Bogota(read Cartegena, Colombia) 8 reales. They are all dated 1621, and are the only three known dated 1621 coins from this mint ever to be found.

Controversy surrounds coins from this mint. Before the Atocha there were no known coins from this mint prior to 1627. In fact when Mel Fisher of Treasure Salvors, Inc. started finding the coins dated 1622, they were initially looked upon as counterfeits by many knowledgeable dealers. It wasn’t until a sufficient quantity of them had been found that dealers finally came around to grudgingly admitting that they had been wrong.

Sandy McKinney, in her original research for “Coins from the Atocha and Margarita” which was presented in the Christie’s Auction Catalog in 1988 states that “the coins which are the most beautifully designed and carefully struck are undoubtedly those which can be attributed to the mint at Santa Fe de Bogota” (i.e. Cartegena). Also she stated that “To our knowledge, no coins minted at the Santa Fe De Bogota (Cartegena) mint during the period of 1621-1622 exist apart from those recovered from the Atocha and Margarita.” The coins were minted by Alonso Turillo de Yebra, who was granted permission to open a mint in Cartegena in 1621. Turillo states in a letter to Phillip IIII received in Madrid in September, 1623, that he had “minted coins of gold and silver” (in 1621 and 1622)” with much more perfection than that which are minted in some other mints” and that most of the coins he minted during this period were lost on “one of the ships” of the fleet which included the Atocha. Turillo struck coins of extraordinary quality “in order to solicit the approval of Phillip IIII” of Spain. Coins were struck in eight real, four real, and two real denominations. There were four different die varieties, with the eight reales having the RN mintmark to the left of the shield (standing for the “New Kingdom of Grenada”) and the assayer’s mark “A” to the right. The four reales have an S mintmark to the left of the shield and an A assayer’s mark to the right. The two reale has an S mintmark to the left with the F beneath. Since there was no F assayer in Seville at this time, the coins could only have originated from Santa Fe.

Until recently the only coins found anywhere from this mint were dated 1622. Years ago I found the Pearson Specimen with an unusual looking vertical line where a date should be. To me it appeared to be a one of a date, but no specialist in Santa Fe/Cartegena cobs would admit that it was, even after pointing out the research on Turillo done in the archives at Seville. It wasn’t until two specimens with a “21" of the date were found that coins dated 1621 were accepted as genuine and not a die error, counterfeit, or otherwise.

There are three dated 1621 Santa Fe/Cartegena eight reales known. The first is the James and Lisa Sinclair Specimen. It has appeared in an article in Coin World Magazine, and is the first of the three to be pictured in a book, “The Forgotten Mint of Colonial Panama”, by Jorge A. Proctor. (2005) The coin appears on page 84 and is described as an “Eight Reales dated 1621 from the New Kingdom of Granada”. A portion of the “R” mintmark and the “A” assayer’s mark can be seen to the left and right of the shield of Phillip IIII. This specimen is said to be the most valuable, with one dealer quoting me in the range of $50,000 to the right buyer. This coin was found on the Atocha in one of the chests of the famous “Paper Napkin” deal that Mel Fisher did with an investor. It was part of one of the two chests that the Sinclairs owned in the early 1990's.

The second dated coin is known as the Zucker Specimen. It also has the “21" of the date 1621, along with a large round planchet which has a fair amount of sea wear. This coin was recovered by Seahawk from the Dry Tortugas Wreck, a deep water salvage that many consider to be the Rosario, a sister ship to the Atocha. The “R” can be seen of the mintmark to the left and the “A” assayer’s mark to the right of the shield. This specimen to date is valued in the $20,000 range.

The last dated specimen is the Bill Pearson Specimen. It is well struck, but only has a “1" of the date 1621 on it. It is the heaviest of the three coins. Little of the mintmark can be seen to the left of the shield, but a solid “A” assayer’s mark is visible to the right. This was found in the second chest that the Sinclairs owned in the early 1990's. The value of this coin is said to be in the $10,000 range.

All three coins were made with the same die design, which is slightly different than the 1622 dated coins. There is one other 8 reale struck with the same die, but it is not dated. Being that these three coins were all minted in 1621, then placed in different chests and put on different ships, they have not been together at the same time for 374 years. I recently put them all back together when I completed the purchase of the Sinclair Specimen and the Zucker Specimen. They are finally together at last. Will more be found? Who knows? With all the chests of coins found on the Atocha only 2 coins were found out of nearly 200,000. Only one was found on the Dry Tortugas Wreck. The odds are awfully small. It is too bad that Turillo didn’t keep a record of how many he struck.

These Santa Fe/Cartegena coins are truly beautiful. We have come a long way in what we know about this mint since the first coins were found on the Atocha and Margarita in 1985. However, we still have a long way to go. We hope presenting these three coins to you together will help to uncover some more “secrets” about these fabulous Spanish Treasure Coins.

Thanks to Sandy McKinney, Christie’s Auction, and Jorge Proctor.