Maksim's On-Line Museum

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  • Home
  • North America
    • U.S. Capitol Flag
    • Coal Mine Scrip
    • Woodstock Ticket
    • Cable Car Cable
    • Pitch Pine Torch
    • Alcatraz Concrete
    • Ringling Bros. Staff Pin
    • Montgomery Bus Token
    • WTC Ticket
    • KKK Membership Card
    • Archaic Arrowhead
    • Prohibition Prescription
    • Smokey Bear Pinbacks
    • Gold Rush Nuggets
    • Edison Disc Record
    • Hoover Dam Cable
    • Jack Dempsey
    • Cal Ripken, Jr.
    • Bre Pettis
    • Steve Wozniak
    • Robert Ballard
    • Glenn Miller
    • El Cazador Shipwreck Coin
    • Panama Canal Matches
  • Political
    • Iranian Hostage Crisis
    • Watergate Scandal
    • White House Easter Egg
    • Eisenhower Rally Ticket
    • CCC Scrip Tickets
    • Condoleezza Rice
    • Gail Halvorsen
    • Berlin Wall
  • Military
    • Stalag POW ID Tag
    • Disney WWII Insignia
    • D-Day Barbed Wire
    • OPA Ration Tokens
    • WWII Polish Home Army Badge
    • Ships for Victory Pin
    • Crimean War Button
    • Korean War Safe Conduct Pass
    • USO Record Home
    • Vietnam War Mess Token
    • Kamikaze Recognition Slide
    • Kilroy Was Here
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    • Allied Military Currency
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    • Fred Sutherland
    • Woody Williams
    • Harry Ettlinger
    • Richard Cole
    • Charles McGee
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    • Chester Nez
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    • Trinitite
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    • Model T Radiator Cap
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    • Anti-Apartheid Pin
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  • Natural
    • Organ Cave
    • Woolly Mammoth Hair
    • Shiva Lingam Stone
    • Mount St. Helens Ash
    • Mosasaurus Tooth
    • Knightia Fish Fossil
    • Megalodon Shark Tooth
  • European
    • Viking Fibula Brooch
    • Olympic Clay Pigeon
    • Chernobyl Liquidator Badge
    • Titanic Coal
  • Asia
    • Great Wall Of China
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2 Reales Coin from the El Cazador Shipwreck

Spain, which had acquired the Louisiana Territory from France in 1682, found itself in a crisis in the late 1700’s due to a failing economy in the North American territory.  In an effort to bolster the economy with a reliable currency to finance foreign and local trade, Carolus III, The Bourbon King of Spain, ordered the near worthless paper money be redeemed with silver coinage from the Spanish Mint in Mexico.  The King dispatched his most trusted captain, Gabriel de Campos y Pineda, to deliver approximately 450,000 Spanish reales to the port of New Orleans aboard the brig of war, El Cazador (meaning The Hunter in English).  The ship sailed from Vera Cruz, Mexico on January 11, 1784, but never reached her final destination.    

The effect of the loss was devastating, and later efforts to redeem and stabilize the Spanish currency of Louisiana all failed.  In 1800, unable to capitalize on its North American assets, King Charles IV of Spain agreed to cede Louisiana back to France for some minor European considerations.  Just three years later, in 1803, Napoleon sold the vast territory to U.S. President Thomas Jefferson for $15 million as part of the Louisiana Purchase.  This doubled the United States in size, opening the nation to westward expansion and establishing America as a land of opportunity.  But it may never have happened, if not for “the shipwreck that changed the world.”
The 2 Reales coin owned was certified by the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC). The coin is in a presentation box with a certificate of authenticity and a pamphlet that details the shipwreck.
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