5/4/24 Report - Maravedis and Half Reales of the Treasure Coast: Some Thoughts and Context.

 

Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Copper Maravedi Found by Bill P.
See: The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 1//6/2011 Report - Maravedi & More Wet Sand Hunting

Doing this blog for about a decade and a half, I've received a lot of reports from a lot of people - beach detectorists and treasure salvors alike.  Over that time, I've seen a pretty good sample of what has been found on the Treasure Coast.  It is certainly not a systematically collected sample, but a relatively large sample nonetheless.   Of course, I can't guarantee that it is a representative sample.  In fact, I suspect it is biased to some extent but still has some validity within certain acknowledged limitations.  I've reported on finds including everything to junk and zinc pennies, to some of the largest and most famous treasure finds such as the 1715 Fleet Anniversary gold finds made by Captain Jonah and the crew of the Capitana.  One type of coin that hasn't received a lot of attention, even though they have been found in small numbers on the Treasure Coast, is the maravedi.  I know of a few that came from the dunes.

In the 16th century, the maravedí was reborn as a billon coin of little value, the lowest denomination in the Castilian system. While gold and silver currency circled the globe, the only coins that most ordinary people saw in their lifetime were made of billon; as a result, this humble currency reflects the real social climate far better than precious metals.

In fact, maravedís were at the heart of the severe crises of the late 16th and 17th century. The state shifted the burden of Habsburg Castile's economic and financial problems onto their users, depreciating the coins’ purity and forcing citizens to take them to the mints to be marked with a higher face value after paying a fee. And even though a piece of four could become a piece of eight, the cost of products rose at the same pace, so these manoeuvres only succeeded in creating tremendous social unrest that did not disappear until the 18th century.

In 1716, the Bourbon reforms introduced monetary unification. The Castilian system was imposed on all the monarchy’s territories, and the old coins of the medieval Spanish kingdoms disappeared. From that point until the mid-19th century, the maravedí was the currency of small everyday living expenses and people with limited means.

Source: The Maravedí: Coins for the People - | Ministerio de Cultura (man.es)

 

Maravedi Found by Crew of Capitana
 in the 2019 Season.

 I think I remember Jonah asking me about this one when it was found, and if I correctly recall I dated it incorrectly at first and then had to correct what I told him.

I just received the following email this morning.

I just read your post about half reales on the beach. Great thoughts... Ive always wondered why and how the beaches, and the ocean, produce what they do. Another question is, why aren't there many maravides found?? Surely if they were paying low wage salvors and what not, the copper coins would have been much more prevalent and found more often. I've only ever found one!! A lot of halfers still get found every year during the dive season. I'm not sure of the exact number but a call to Queens Jewels or the state archeologist in charge of the fleet, could reveal the numbers reported. I have heard of maravides being found, I've seen a few of them dug, but why aren't there more? 🤔  Great discussion, fun food for thought. Cheers! 

Thanks much for the email and questions.  This email is what inspired today's post.  I probably won't get to everything on the subject today but can add to it some other time.

As the article above says, the maravedi was the coin of daily transactions, but they were scarce in the New World and so were imported from Spain.

The lot description of a copper maravedi lot listed in the current Sedwick auction states, "SPAIN (special issue for New World use), Seville, copper denomination set of 1-2-4 maravedís, Ferdinand-Isabel, rare. Cal-62, 110, and Type 29. 9.51 grams total. Matched set of the copper denominations for this generally rare and desirable first series of coins designed specifically for importation to and use in the New World,"

Here is that link.  SPAIN (special issue for New World use), Seville, copper denomination set of 1-2-4 maravedís, Ferdin - Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC (sedwickcoins.com).

It is not surprising that the primary purpose of the New World mints was to pump out treasure to send back to the king, and most of our Treasure Coast treasure finds come mostly from ships transporting treasure back to Spain.

It would seem that maravedis would be the choice for daily transactions, but there were times and places where small denomination reales would have been more readily available.  That is why we see reales being cut in pieces to produce smaller denominations.

Here is an interesting story that provides some context.

Source: https://www.jstor.org/page-scan-delivery/get-page-scan/43580634/0

There can be many factors, including cultural, that affect the availability of circulating currencies.

So it says both "two and four maravedi copper and low-denomination silver coins" were dumped into the lake.

While copper coinage might have been more appropriate to personal transactions than silver, The New World mints were creating some low-denomination silver for local needs.  

Alan Craig's book Spanish Colonial Silver Coins in the Florida Collection gives yearly production numbers for some New World mints.  Table 8.3 shows that in 1713, for example, 1,101,731 eight reales were produced by the Potosi mint while only 313,158 half reales were produced by the same mint.  Just a quick scan of the sane table suggests that in later years, well after 1715, the mint was producing a lot more half reales, possibly as a result of the increasing population and local needs.

I don't know why but a good number of the maravedis offered for sale on eBay are described as "pirate" treasure.  I suspect that is mostly a marketing strategy.  If there was shipwreck provenance, I suspect it would be mentioned.

It seems to me that maravedis are much more scarce on the 1715 Fleet beaches than half reales, which, as I've stated before, seem to be relatively common, especially on some beaches.

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The weather is heating up and we are gettinng into summer beach conditions.

Only small surf this week.

Good huting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net