In this year alone, nearly two dozen sisters of the Reijgersdaal fell and lay shattered off this Southernmost point of South Africa. Then, in 1979, professional salvers Jimmy Rawe and Arthur Ridge spent countless hours underwater, recovering nearly 6,800 coins, as well as other priceless artifacts from the skeletal remains of the once-proud trader. The vast majority of coins discovered within the wreck were silver 8 reales, also known as pillar dollars, struck at the Mexico City mint. The beautiful example below is from this find. Pillar dollars were recognized the world over as a reliable medium of exchange, and were, in fact, America's first silver dollar.
Coins are only a medium of exchange unless they have a story to tell.
The hands they possibly passed through, the places they've been, or the era they were from add adventure to what otherwise is just a disk of metal. If they could only speak.