Watch List notes:

Mexico City, Mexico, pillar 8 reales, Philip V, 1741MF, AU details / sea salvaged / St. Geran (1744), ex-Glendining (1968). KM-103; Cal-1458. 26.97 grams. Bold strike with thick rims, deeply toned and basically uncorroded, with a few tiny marks only. The story of the St. Geran's sinking includes the tragic death of a young French lady traveling back from France to idyllic Mauritius (then known as Ile de France) along with her betrothed, a crew member, her death ostensibly due to a prudish refusal to remove her clothing to keep from drowning, tragically choosing modesty over survival. In 1788 this anecdote became the core of the best-selling novel Paul et Virginie, by the French author Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, which also extolled the virtues of living harmoniously on an island without the constraints of social class divisions. From the Glendining (London) auction of February 1968 (lot 320), with photo certificate. From: St. Geran, sunk in 1744 off Mauritius, east of Africa
($200-300)