In 1784 on January 11, on a Spanish man of war called El Cazador which sailed from Veracruz Mexico to New Orleans sunk. Its cargo was 450,000 pesos of newly minted silver coins. The king of Spain, Carlos the III (1759 to 1788) had intended that these coins be used to redeem the nearly worthless Spanish paper currency then in circulation in Spanish owned Louisiana. The ship and her crew sink in the winter seas, disappearing without a trace. Due to the loss of these silver coins the king of Spain was forced to sell or trade Louisiana. In 1800, a reluctant King Carlos IV (1788 to 1808) conveyed Louisiana to France’s Napoleon. Just three years later in 1803, Emperor Napoleon sold Louisiana to Thomas Jefferson for $15 million dollars. The demise of the El Cazador changed the course of US history. On August 2, 1993, the sunken ship with discovered by Captain Jerry Murphy of the fishing vessel “Mistake”. That was 209 years after the vessel sink. The coin has been mounted onto a thin piece of cardboard and sealed in plastic so you cannot see the reverse. It’s unfortunate but it is such a neat and historic collectible I had to have it. And the price was right which always helps.
