CNG 85, Lot: 1594. Estimate $300. Sold for $470. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

HANOVER. George I. 1714-1727. AR Medal (45mm, 37.41 g, 12h). Spanish Fleet Destroyed off Cape Passaro. By J. Crocker. Dated 1718. GEORGIVS · D : G : MAG BR : FR : ET · HIB : REX · F · D ·, laureate, draped, and armored bust right; I C below / SOCIORVM PROTECTOR ·, statue of George (as Neptune) left upon rostral column among captured naval trophies; CLASSE · HISP · DELECTA ·/AD · ORAS · SICILIÆ ·/1718 in three lines in exergue. MI 439/42; Eimer 481. Near EF, toned, underlying luster, a couple of marks on neck.

From a California Collection of British Historical Medals.

A naval engagement between Great Britain and Spain, the Battle of Cape Passaro emanated from the latter’s invasion of Sicily earlier in the year. The result was a decisive victory for Great Britain and a formal declaration of war against Spain by France, the Dutch Republic, and the Holy Roman Empire. This conflict, the War of the Quadruple Alliance, even reached the Americas where a French capturing of the Spanish settlement of Pensacola in May 1719 pre-empted a later Spanish attack on South Carolina.