1715 FLEET: SILVER REALE PROVENANCE SEARCH

 

Our Treasure of the Month for June was recently featured as Lot #364 in the Sedwick & Associates, LLC Auction #39 earlier this month. This 25.8 gram silver reale from the Spanish colonial mint at Mexico City has a broad, squarish flan with no corrosion and a bold "15" date.

 

It came to our attention because of its desirable provenance. This coin was sold along with an original Henry Christensen auction envelope. The lot description in the Sedwick auction catalog describes the coin as "linked to the Real Eight finds of the 1960's." There were several Christensen auctions during that period, which featured silver coins from the Real Eight Company. (NOTE: The silver coins referred to in this article are also known as "reales". This was a unit of currency used in Spain from the mid-14th century until the late 19th century. This coin came in denominations of 8, 4, 2, 1, and half reales.) Interestingly enough, the source of the coins (Real Eight Company) was never mentioned. More about that later.

If, as the lot description indicates, our Treasure of the Month is one of those early coins, it would be historically beneficial if we could pedigree it to a specific 1960's Christensen auction. Regrettably, the Henry Christensen auction envelope, which was sold with the coin, does not identify the auction in which this coin was sold. Why is this important? Because pedigree is everything when dealing with 1715 Fleet coins. Pedigree establishes the history of the coin and also adds value. So, we decided to analyze the early Christensen auctions in an effort to establish, if possible, exactly which auction our Treasure of the Month was featured in. We will be focusing on eight reales coins from the Mexico City mint bearing a date of 1715, which coincides with our treasure.

The Real Eight Company made its first major recovery of silver reales coins in January 1961. This was at a Fleet wreck site located near Sebastian, which the company often referred to as the "Cabin Wreck". The wreck site was given this name due to its proximity to a small cottage owned by Kip Wagner, President of the company. It is notable that the vast majority of silver coins from the Cabin wreck were from the Mexico City mint. The Real Eight Company continued salvaging these coins and, by 1962, had amassed thousands. That was the good news. The bad news was that they had no idea what these coins were worth on the open market. The members of the Real Eight Company would sell their silver coins to individuals on a limited basis. They would charge what they thought the coins were worth. It is surmised that they wanted to see what their coins would actually sell for at auction. If the auction prices realized were below what the members of the Company were already selling their coins for, it could negatively impact their efforts to sell coins in the future. They had to know what their coins would sell for at auction without being identified as the source. Conversely, if the auction prices were higher, then the company could raise the prices on its individual coin sales.

The Real Eight Company decided to auction its coins using Henry Christensen. Robert Nesmith likely referred Kip Wagner to Henry Christensen, who was a friend of Nesmith's. It was decided that the Real Eight Company would consign a few coins for auction in order to get an idea of the value of the coins they had found. However, it was agreed that while the coins would be identified as coming from the 1715 Fleet, the source was to remain anonymous for reasons previously stated.

On May 12, 1962, an auction took place in New York. Six Mexico City silver coins (reales) were listed for sale. They consisted of one 1712 dated eight reales, three 1715 dated eight reales, and two 1715 dated four reales. Of the three 1715 dated reales (Lots #283, #284, and #285), only one is plated (or, in plain language, pictured in the auction catalog) as Lot #283.

 
Lots #282 and #283 as featured in the Christensen Catalog, May 12, 1962.

To read the complete article, see:
June 2026 — Treasure of the Month (https://1715fleetsociety.com/june-2026-treasure-of-the-month/)

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