Spanish Colonial Silver Cobs

They look real to me and I'd say they're worth about $200-300 each, assuming they're all 8R's. I like #2 the best on account of the cross-side details. Nice, chunky, crude pieces. There's part of a date on #4, but I can't see anything on the others.

Thanks for both the replies. @txabs Here I was thinking $200 per coin was going to be a fair offer. @thq They are all 8 reales & the quick research I put in showed me that they would sell for between $250-$600 on the high end. The ones that I've seen sell for $250-300 look no different to me than some that have sold for close to $600. Also, I forgot to mention they claim these came from the Lacayan Beach wreck.

Lacayan Beach wreck sunk ca. 1628 off Grand Bahama Island
Since the accidental discovery in 1964 of around 10,000 silver cobs (dated up to and including 1628) in 10 feet of water just 1,300 yards from the Lucayan Beach Hotel, the mystery of identifying the lost vessel has never been solved. Because of the date, popular opinion associates the wreck with the taking of the Spanish 1628 Fleet in Matanzas Bay, Cuba, by the Dutch pirate and national hero Piet Heyn, who reported losing two of the vessels on the way back to Europe. Three names proposed for the ship(s) by various sellers over the years were the Van Lynden, the Santa Gertrude (or Gertrudis) and the Romario, with scant evidence to support any of the attributions. Spanish archival research uncovered a new name—Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, sunk in that general area in 1624, but a quick check of auction catalogs confirms that some of the recovered coins were clearly dated later than that. A more recent (1990s) recovery off the Lucayan Beach turned up similar material—but no further clues as to the ship's (or ships') identity. Practically all of the coins have been Mexican 8 and 4 reales of the assayer-D period, some in quite nice condition and a few with clear dates, which of course are rare. Expect to pay a modest premium for specimens in white clamshell boxes produced by Spink & Son (London) in the 1960s for a promotion that capped off years of disagreements between the salvagers, their backers and the Bahamian government.

Just don't know the current market and I would love to acquire them. Any additional help would be much appreciated. Make it a great day!

I would call this anecdotal provenance since is it impossible to accurately associate any of those possibly genuine cobs with those documents. If you can establish that any of those cobs are probably genuine then, in my opinion, you have derived the maximum value. How much additional value you can generate with this anecdotal provenance is another matter.

The people who own the cobs informed me that they have other articles explaining that they were the recipients of these pieces. Also, the other articles actually list their names & have pictures of them receiving these four pieces. I'm assuming this will help with the overall provenance. Any other suggestions to help me add some relevance to the provenance? I was thinking about having them write a letter stating they have agreed to sell these pieces to me. I look forward to hearing any other thoughts or suggestions.

I'm not a buyer, and the prices I gave are fairly high retail based on similar ones Sedwick is currently selling.

These coins look like the real deal though. Chunky and crude, with typical surface fissures and edges. If these are fakes they're really good ones.

@ jgenn I was thinking the same thing, but if I could get them for a reasonable price I could sell three & maybe keep one, or sell them all. I checked Sedwicks and the only 8 reales I saw was the Lucayan Beach - 8 Reales, fourth one down, with certification of course, which sold for $595.

https://www.newworldtreasures.com/otherwrecks.htm

Would you say $600 is a better offer since they aren't certified?

txabs I've bought better Mexican 8R's than this for $200. I'm not here to argue, just to give the OP an idea of what he has at a retail price. In this condition authenticity is critical, not which wreck they came from. There are ebay sellers asking a lot more for dubious cobs in worse shape. A cursory search showed undated 8R ebay BIN's starting in the $250-300 range, higher than Sedwick.

Thanks all!