Coins

The large number of coins (over 10,000 silver and 250 gold) provides a significant overview of the coins in circulation in the year of the shipwreck. This was a period of great historical transition between the old and the new, between sailing and steam, and between different systems of coinage. Most of the coins are so-called Spanish silver colonnades, minted according to the old system in the mints of the New World before the end of Spanish rule. 

A small number of the coins have however been issued in the decimal system, which was introduced in Europe with the French Revolution, allowing precise exchanges of money to take place between different nations.