431, Lot: 584. Estimate $500. Sold for $600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

STUART. Anne. 1702-1714. AR Halfcrown (33mm, 14.97 g, 6h). Pre-Union, VIGO issue. Tower (London) mint. Dually dated RY tertio and 1703. Draped bust left, with hair tied in fillet; VIGO below / Crowned cruciform coats-of-arms around rayed Garter star. ESC 569; SCBC 3580. Near EF, toned, minor reverse flaws.

The War of the Spanish Succession, sparked by Louis XIV of France in his attempts to expand his hegemony, flared into a continent-wide conflict, with France, Spain, and Bavaria opposed by a coalition centered around England, Holland, and Austria. One aim of the Allies was to deprive Spain of the wealth derived from its American colonies. When Admiral Sir George Rooke, commander of the combined fleet, learned the 1702 treasure had arrived at Vigo Bay in Spain, he resolved to seize it. His force of fifty ships besieged the harbor, destroying the French fleet guarding the convoy, sinking most of the ships and capturing cargo worth some 2 million pounds at the time. A special issue of gold and silver coins was struck from the captured plate and a number of medals honored the great victory.