It was the coin crime of the century—the 17th century!

Following a tradition dating back to the first days of coinage, the mint master and assayer at Bolivia's Potosi Mint decided to supplement their salary between 1649 and 1652 by minting underweight silver 8 Reales and pocketing the difference. When the crime was discovered, merchants around the world refused to accept Spanish silver coins, almost bankrupting the government.

You Think You've Got Problems?

Getting their priorities in order, the government first dispatched the mint officials to their eternal reward, then stamped ...

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It was the coin crime of the century—the 17th century!

Following a tradition dating back to the first days of coinage, the mint master and assayer at Bolivia's Potosi Mint decided to supplement their salary between 1649 and 1652 by minting underweight silver 8 Reales and pocketing the difference. When the crime was discovered, merchants around the world refused to accept Spanish silver coins, almost bankrupting the government.

You Think You've Got Problems?

Getting their priorities in order, the government first dispatched the mint officials to their eternal reward, then stamped the 8 Reales coins as short weight and shipped them back to Spain aboard the Spanish galleon La Capitana. She promptly hit a reef and sunk. The coins were saved and loaded onto the La Maravillas. After being blessed by the Archbishop of Havana, she set sail and promptly sank in the Gulf of Mexico.

Four centuries later the wreck was rediscovered and yielded these 8 Reales "Cobs" struck between the infamous dates 1649 and 1652. These "Silver Dollars" were struck by hand, and each is unique, showing crosses, lions and castles. Here's your chance to own a genuine piece of 17th century crime scene evidence. We promise not to ship your coin by boat!