✅ SOLVED Someone gave me a valuable coin. What is it?!

[l_schiller]

A wealthy person gave me this coin as gift:


I'd really like to pinpoint exactly what it is (guessing a Spanish reale) and any info anyone might have about its background. I am no coin expert. Obviously there's the roman numeral VIII on one side as well as numbers that look to me to read "1624." The other side is much harder to decipher. I do not have a way of precisely measuring it, but it's about the size of a contemporary penny.

The closest coin I can find to it is this one: https://www.beastcoins.com/World/Spain/E1016.jpg. The description for that coin is:

"Spain, Philip IV (1621-1655), 8 Maravedis, 1624, Madrid Mint
(Legend off flan)
Crowned shield of Castile, MD to left, VIII to right, VIII countermark
(Legend off flan)
Crowned shield of Leon, MD to left, 1624 to right, 8 countermark
Plain edge, cob-type flan
20mm x 24mm, 7.87g, Copper
Mintage: Unknown

Coin recovered from the wreck of the Spanish galleon "Nuestra Senora de las Maravillas". The "Maravillas" was carrying more than 5 million pesos in gold, silver, jewelry, precious gems, etc. She was on her way from Havanna and bound for Cadiz, Spain, when she sank in a collision with another ship of the fleet, near the Little Bahama Bank on January 4, 1656. Out of 450 persons aboard, only 45 survived the disaster. For forty years, the Spaniards worked the wreck and were successful in salvaging about half the treasure. During the 1860's, shifting sands buried the remains of the wreck and the Spanish could not relocate her. In August, 1972, the wreck was rediscovered by Robert Marx."

Is this a similar coin to the one I found on the internet, or do you think it's something different?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[vhs07]

Ancient Resource: Authentic Spanish Copper "Pirate" Coins for Sale
Some close ones here

 

[Blak bart]

Its a marevedi.

 

[Old Pueblo]

Spanish cob, what the pirates fought for.

 

[l_schiller]

Thank you!

 

[Blak bart]

A cob is a type of coin that is not round like our coins today. Yours is a marevedi made of copper. But cobs can be made of silver or gold also. If you look at my avatar it is a piece of eight, or an eight reale, it is also considered a cob because of its irregular shape. Cobs were made by hand stamping a red hot slice of copper , silver, or gold, that was taken off a bar of copper, silver, or gold. It was then clipped or filed to its correct weight. The marevedi was more or less like a penny, or change. The silver reale cobs were like 5-50 dollar bills in there time , and the gold cobs were your largest denomination of money. The Pirates would have fought for the silver and gold cobs if they had a choice. The marevedi was like pocket change. The galleons whould have been loaded with silver and gold cobs not marevedis. You wouldnt load your boat with Pennys you would load it with 20$ bills and up if you could, know what I mean ? So a pirate walks into a tavern and orders a bottle of rum and a woman of ill repute, he pays with pieces of eight cobs, and receives back marevedi cobs as change. So a cob really means a coin that is not round. The spanish started to mint screw pressed round coins called pillar dollars in 1732 and that was about the end of cob production. Hope that helps, it took me a while to figure out all that and I had to do a lot of research and reading. it can be confusing.


The top pic is an eight reale cob. The bottom pic is an eight reale pillar dollar. And the middle pic shows a marevedi cob, a 4 reale cob, and an eight reale cob.