PERU – CUZCO MINT • 1698 GOLD COB 2 ESCUDOS • “RX” ERROR • BROAD-FLAN ‘LIMA CUT’ NGC MS 62 • 2010 Cannon Find (1715 Fleet Shipwreck Label) Ex-McGregor Collection • PLVS VLTRA Cover Coin

CHARLES II (King's Ordinal fully visible!!!). One of the most electrifying pieces of 1715 Fleet gold ever discovered, this 1698 Cuzco 2 Escudos stands as a true showcase rarity—a broad-flan, perfectly struck, error-legend treasure coin directly from the legendary 2010 Cannon Find, one of the most important single discoveries in modern shipwreck history.

Struck at Cuzco by assayer M, this spectacular piece weighs 6.70 grams and displays the dramatic and highly coveted “RX” error in the legend, where the engraver mistakenly punched RX instead of REX—a blunder rarely seen so boldly and completely. The strike is crisp, complete, and unusually elegant for a cob: a full cross, full shield, and full legends on an oversized, broad flan produced in the distinctive “Lima cut” style. The surfaces blaze with intense original luster, fully deserving of the coin’s choice NGC MS 62 grade with the desirable 2010 Cannon Shipwreck Label.

What elevates this piece to the level of institution-worthy rarity is its ironclad provenance. This coin is one of only 48 gold 2 escudos found hidden inside a bronze swivel cannon discovered in 2010 at Corrigans Beach—an astonishing event that occurred just weeks after Brent and William Brisben secured the salvage rights and established Queens Jewels LLC. Among this already elite group, only three were the coveted large-flan Cuzco issues, and expert Philip Flemming called them “almost certainly the most important coins to emerge from the Cannon Find.” Of these three, Flemming singled out this very coin as “arguably the best of them.”

Its fame is further cemented by appearances in major publications—it served as the cover coin of the 3rd Quarter 2010 issue of PLVS VLTRA, the definitive journal of 1715 Fleet scholarship. It also carries impeccable pedigree as part of the McGregor Collection, noted on the NGC label, and includes the original Queens Jewels photo-certificate (#73188) along with Flemming’s 2018 photo-certificate.

In every way—eye appeal, strike, rarity, numismatic importance, and shipwreck history—this 1698 Cuzco 2 Escudos stands at the absolute pinnacle of 1715 Fleet gold. A trophy treasure coin of the highest order, worthy of the finest collection of Spanish colonial gold or shipwreck artifacts anywhere in the world.31