The Mexico City mint, in Spanish colonial times, produced the first milled coins of the New World. The “bust” type coins have a portrait of the King of Spain and Pillars on the reverse. The representation is of the Pillars of Hercules standing at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Before the discovery of the New World, these Pillars represented the end of civilization – beyond which was nothing. Spain proved there was indeed “more beyond” and in the years of exploration and conquest, brought back vast amounts of gold and silver from this New World, The legend in Latin around the pillars was testimony to this – “Rex Hispana Et Ind” – “King of Spain and the Indies”.
This 1810 shipwreck was discovered by a treasure salvor who at the time was searching for a missing Spanish galleon from the 1715 Plate Fleet. Harold Holden, for his work on the 1810 site, and for his recovery of coins and a fantastic gold reliquary from the 1715 Plate Fleet was well known and respected as a treasure finder and has since passed.