![]() Joining them was not the smart move for a man with his opportunities. William Dampier passed up a stately British prep school to become a buccaneer. They “wore elegant silk waistcoats, colorful sashes, and gold and jewels to excess,” writes Keith Thomson in his new book, “Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune” (Little, Brown), out now. He abhorred the experience, writing in his journal that he was “clearly out of my element.” He found distractions at the nearby Port Royal, where he noticed that visiting buccaneers - a k a pirates - were different from the typical scruffy seafarers. It happened during a plantation management apprenticeship in Jamaica. He seemed destined to become a wealthy and respected British gentleman, and that might have been his path. The 28-year-old from a small village in Somerset, England, had a young wife-Judith, a relative of the Duchess of Grafton-and a small estate of his own in Dorsetshire. In 1679, William Dampier had a bright future ahead of him. Striking pics show traffic jam behind stuck ship as vessels fear pirate attacks Taika Waititi: ‘Only eight year olds think pirates are cool’Īncient coins may solve mystery of murderous 1600s pirate Use our Important Terminology page to gain an understanding about catalog value.But where’s One-Eyed Willy’s treasure? Missing 17th-century ship that inspired ‘Goonies’ is found CoinQuest provides only very approximate guidance. If you have an old cob in good condition with clear dates and markings, seek out a knowledgable collector or coin dealer to get an accurate estimate of value. WITH DATE SHOWING: 8 REALES (27.1 grams, about 32 mm diameter) WITH DATE SHOWING: 4 REALES (13.5 grams, about 26 mm diameter) WITH DATE SHOWING: 2 REALES (6.8 grams, about 22 mm diameter) WITH DATE SHOWING: 1 REAL (3.4 grams, about 18 mm diameter) WITH DATE SHOWING: 1/2 REAL (1.7 grams, about 14 mm diameter)Ĭrude: $80 US dollars approximate catalog value The back side varies (at least in general appearance) with the specific Spanish colony in the New World. The front side of these coins look approximately the same, with a Jerusalem cross. The coin catalogs indicate typical values for cobs as shown below. Prices go as low as $20 for crude, uninteresting specimens. The coin in the photo is in marginal condition and would probably fetch $80 US dollars or so in retail value. ![]() Many collectors enjoy these coins and are willing to pay premium value over raw precious metal content. It is a lot of fun, and really fun when you find one! To this day people still use metal detectors along the beach to uncover these cobs of gold and silver. With no Weather Channel at their disposal, hurricanes often sunk the ships and the cobs became treasure coins. Loading the cobs onto gallion sailing ships, they headed up the coast of Florida before turning east toward Spain. The values remain basically unchanged with date the presence or absence of a date is what matters. ![]() If your cob has an intact date, it is worth much more than a cob where the date was never imprinted on the piece of silver. The most important feature of any cob coin is the date. Often only a small portion of the image on the die was impressed on the silver. The size, shape and impression of these cobs is highly irregular, but they were the proper weight. A bar of silver was cut into bite-sized chunks of the appropriate weight, and then struck with a hammer between crude dies. ![]() To export the precious metal to Spain quickly, the colonial mints produced irregular coinage called cobs. Spain Spanish Colonial Silver Cob Coin 1570 to 1780Įxploring the New World, Spain soon discovered plenteous deposits of gold and silver.
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