167, Lot: 243. Estimate $200. Sold for $420. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ORANGE. Anne. 1702-1714. AR Crown (39mm, 29.73 g, 6h). London mint. VIGO issue. Dated 1703. Diademed and draped bust left / Crowned cruciform coat-of-arms around Garter Star; roses and plumes in angles. Edge: DECVS • ET • TVTAMEN ANNO • REGNI •TERTIO. ESC 99; SCBC 3576. Good Fine.

The 1702 Spanish bullion fleet sailed into Vigo harbor to avoid a joint British-Dutch naval force blockading the normal port of entry, Cadiz. On 23 October the fleet was discovered and the Spanish bullion ships and their French escorts were obliterated. The seized bullion was sent back to England for coinage into gold and silver coins of Anne. But as H. Kamen pointed out in his 1968 article “The Destruction of the Spanish Silver Fleet at Vigo in 1702” NumCirc 1968, pp.186-9, the fleet had arrived in Vigo on 23 September, and by the time of the raid most of the Spanish Crown’s share of the bullion had been off-shipped. The bulk of the captured precious metal belong to private investors in the fleet, the majority of whom happened to be British and Dutch, who in fact petitioned the British government for compensation for their losses.