343

1725-H [La Rochelle Mint] Ecu aux 8 L’s, Gadoury 320.

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:40.00 CAD Estimated At:100.00 - 150.00 CAD
1725-H [La Rochelle Mint] Ecu aux 8 L’s, Gadoury 320.
SOLD
40.00CAD+ buyer's premium
This item SOLD at 2019 May 02 @ 19:50UTC-4 : AST/EDT

Buyer’s Premiums will be added on all items as per the Terms & Conditions of the sale. Invoices will be emailed out after The Toronto Coin Expo.

The Chameau Treasure Ship Coinage - 1725-H [La Rochelle Mint] Ecu aux 8 L’s, Gadoury 320. Another impossible coin to grade, technically Uncirculated, though good luck getting it slabbed as such! The obverse is heavily encrusted with small stones and bits of metal from the shipwreck, now firmly attached to the coin as part of an underwater chemical process. The reverse has just a small area of this encrustation at the right edge, the coin clearly sitting on top of another one for most of its time in the ocean, the reverse side protected from major damage as a result, though some water certainly found its way to the surface on this side; most of the legend is visible but weak (including the date and mintmark), the central design detail sharp. Most of the coins looked like this when they were brought up – it’s what naturally happens to silver after centuries of salt water immersion – but the coins were put through an electrolytic cleaning which removed this encrustation. The present specimen was kept in this condition by one of the divers as a memento of his time spent recovering the treasure; very few Chameau coins were kept in their original condition, and it is a striking example indeed, and would make for an interesting coin to exhibit alongside examples from this ship that had their encrustation removed. If one is going to own an example of this most common date and mintmark, it might as well be an interesting specimen!