This artifact is a Spanish Maravedi coin found in a shipwreck off the coast of Greece in the Mediterranean Sea.  This coin is struck from bronze either from a hammer or screw press or a combination thereof.

This coin shows the date 1641 on one side and shows the symbol VIII and 1613 on the other side indicating that it holds a value of 8 Maravedi.  This is an extremely rare find to have hand struck two dates on either side of the coin over 400 years ago and found on a shipwreck.  The 1613 date is the original mint date of the coin and it was re-stamped with a new date in 1641.  The 8 was not the original value of the coin and was actually a re-struck Maravedi with an original value of either 1, 2, or 4 Maravedi.  During bad economic times the governing body would take lower value coinage and stamp them with either IIII, VI, 8, VIII, or VII.  This is the equivalent of stamping a nickel with $1.

This artifact comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from Global Xploration.