Another incredible rarity from the Knapton Collection this coin is one of the few from the Seahorse wreck.
A slave ship of the South Seas Company the Seahorse would be part of the triangular slave trade taking human cargo from west Africa to various ports in Spanish colonial America. The South Seas Company would become infamous for being one of the first "ponzi" schemes in British history.
On September 29th, 1728, the Seahorse was caught in a sudden gale and thrown upon Gorritti Island at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. Contemporary salvage recovered all of her registered cargo, but like all ships conducting trade with the colonies, she had contraband on board. Some of this contraband was salvaged in the 1990s by local fishermen.