Advanced Aquatic Products Awards Valuable Shipwreck Coin

Advanced Aquatic Products Intl. has awarded Jim Brickler, the winner of its StormCon 2008 exhibit giveaway, a genuine, certified-authentic shipwreck coin from El Cazador, which was lost in 1784 off the coast of Louisiana in stormy winter seas.

This sometimes-forgotten shipwreck has often been called the "wreck that changed the world," especially the U.S, because 450,000 pesos of minted silver coins were lost, destabilizing the worldwide Spanish economy. The loss forced King Carlos IV of Spain to sell the Louisiana Territory to France in 1800. Three years later, Napoleon sold the 1-million-sq-mile area to U.S. President Thomas Jefferson.

The value of the shipwreck coin is estimated at $900 to $1,200 USD.

Source: Advanced Aquatics Products Intl.