Beginning in the early 1500’s, Spanish conquistadores plundered the New World in search of gold, silver, emeralds, and other riches. As the Spanish colonized large swaths of the Americas, tales of unfathomable riches emerged. These stories fueled the fires of conquest, which initially reaped incredible wealth for the Spanish empire, but as time passed, the glimmer of precious metals faded and so too did the legends and memories of the people and places left behind. That was until one Summer day in 1936, when an unsuspecting fisherman stumbled upon something that would not only alter the course of his life, but also rewrite history. This one discovery set the stage for an extraordinary story, one that would not only unearth treasure but also secrets of an empire forgotten by the sands of time.
Prior to the 19th century, very little was known about coins minted in the New World from the 1600’s or early 1700’s. Aside from a rare piece that may have washed up on a beach from a shipwreck, precious few examples were known to exist and almost no mention of any of these coins were described in numismatic catalogs or reference books. This stands to reason as most of the coins that were minted in the New World were shipped back to Spain, where they were melted down and converted into traditional Spanish coinage. The only exceptions would be for a small quantity that may have been used for local commerce and of course those taken by pirates or foreign adversaries.
Up until the mid-1940’s, the only gold coins known to have been minted in Colombia were milled escudos made during the reign of King Ferdinand VI (1746-1759). That all changed in 1936, when a fantastic discovery was made along the shores of the Magdalena river in Colombia.
The first account of this find was reported in November of 1936 in the Revista Del Banco De La Republica Magazine (Page 385) titled “EL TESORO DE EL MESUNO” (The Treasure of El Mesuno). Translated from Spanish, the story reads: “On August 22, in a place called “El Mesuno”, on the western bank of the Magdalena River, near the vicinity of Honda, some workers found, by chance, a treasure composed of old gold objects and coins, which was probably part of a consignment to Spain, shipwrecked on site in the Colonial era.
It has not been possible to establish the exact amount of what was found, but it is estimated that its value exceeds $15,000 of our current currency. (Colombian Pesos)
The pieces found are all made of gold, worth two escudos, minted in the Mint of Bogotá, as attested by the letters N. R. A. That it bears the greatest part of them and that it was the distinctive of the coinage of that origin.
On one side they have the royal arms and on the other the potent cross, and they bear the following inscription on both sides: PHILIPPVS II . D. G. HISPANIARVM REX.
Some of these coins, in addition to the inscription indicated, bear the year 1635, which is very strange if one takes into account that that monarch died in 1598. Most of the coins found have been acquired by the Bank of the Republic and are part of its collection of national coins, both from the Colony and of the Republic, which is the most complete and richest that exists in the country.”
This initial story contained a number of errors and omissions, starting with the reporter attributing the coins to King Philip II, who died in 1598 and the omission of many of the important details surrounding the find. So, let’s take a deeper dive into the history behind the treasure of El Mesuno.
Details of a Magnificent Discovery
On August 22, 1936, near the town of San Bartolomeo de Honda, in the province of Tolima, three brothers were fishing near the confluence of the Guali and Magdalena rivers, at a bend known as “El Mesuno”. These three brothers, Aristóbulo, Jorge and Domingo Guzmán stumbled on a hoard of gold coins known as macuquinas (crude hammer struck coins also known as cobs), along with a vast array of gold pre-Columbian artifacts.
According to eyewitness Don Alfredo Gutiérrez, who was interviewed in 2007, he stated that his friend Domingo Guzmán went down to the river around noon alone to check on his fishing lines. As he ventured to the river’s edge, he noticed something glistening in the water and jumped in to retrieve it. What he pulled up was the remains of an iron box that contained over 1600 gold coins, as well as gold chains and diadems (ornamental headbands). In all his excitement, Domingo screamed “We are saved! God sent us these coins!” Domingo then stuffed as many of the coins into his pockets as he could and buried the treasure box under a rock nearby. Domingo then ran to tell his two older brothers Aristóbulo and Jorge, who thought Domingo had been eaten by a caiman, since he had taken so long to return from the river.
Domingo then led his brothers to the location, where they not only saw the box of coins, but also gold coins strewn along the shore. The brothers found so many coins, that they had to go home and empty out several butter jars so they could use them as containers to hold the treasure. The three brothers divvied up the treasure amongst themselves and later, Domingo returned with his Mother and gave her some of the coins that he found. That day, the Guzmán brothers became the richest men in the town – at least for a while.
In the midst of their excitement and lack of discretion, the brothers revealed their secret to the people in town. Shortly thereafter, the beaches of the Mesuno were overrun with over 1,000 frenzied treasure seekers who scoured every inch of sand looking for coins and artifacts. Many people found coins, jewels, and diadems of gold, which had been deposited there by the river’s current.
Some believe that the large amount of coins and gold objects had been part of a lost shipment, which the Spaniards were trying to transport from Bogotá to Cartagena where they could be shipped back to Spain or used to make fortification improvements on the Castillo de San Felipe in Cartagena.
A Tragic Ending
Sadly, this story doesn’t have a happy ending. In less than six months, the Guzmán brothers had wasted their treasure on drinking, tailor made suits, a car, and women of the night. The brothers were so frivolous that they frequently paid five of their golden two escudos for one night with a girl. The value of those five two escudos today would be worth in excess of $12,000!
In January of 1937, less than six months from the discovery of the treasure, Domingo Guzmán was so destitute, that he attempted to steal some chickens, got caught and had to spend a few weeks in jail. Then, in the first week of February, during the celebration of the feast of Saint Lucia, Domingo took his own life by putting a stick of dynamite in his mouth and blowing himself up. After that, nothing was ever heard from Domingo’s two older brothers.
Identifying the Origin of the Coins
The Spaniards transported their gold and silver coins, and other treasures on horseback from Bogotá to Honda. From there they were sent, across the Magdalena River, to the city of Cartagena de Indias (Cartagena).
The coins that were found were mostly hammer struck two escudos (pistoles or doubloons) that were minted in Santa Fé Nuevo Reino, Colombia dating from 1628 to1642 (according to what exists in the Banco De La Republica collection). This indicates that they were minted during the reign of King Philip IV of Spain (1621-1665). The obverse of the coins shows the coat of arms of the Spanish Crown (the Hapsburg Shield), and the reverse shows the Jerusalem cross, a symbol of the alliance between the Spanish Empire and the Catholic Church.
The mint marks on the obverse or shield side of the coins were represented by letters of three variations, which help to identify date ranges for coins that do not display a date. These variations were N.R.A, N.R.P. and N.R.R. The “N” represents the first word of the mint “Nuevo” for Nuevo Reino de Santa Fé de Bogotá. The second letter “R” represents the second letter of the mint “Reino” for “Nuevo Reino” and the “A”, “P”, and “R” represents the assayer’s initials who were the officials who oversaw and were responsible for the coin’s minting, gold purity, and proper weight. When minted, the coins were made of 22k gold, with the one escudo weighing about 3.4 grams and the two escudos weighing close to 6.77 grams.
Historical records indicate that the letter “A” represents an assayer named Alonso de Anuncibay, who was the mint assayer from 1632 to1642 and the letters “P” and “R” stands for Pedro Ramos, who was the mint assayer from 1642 until 1676.
In addition to the mint marks and assayer’s initials, the obverse side of many of the coins display a central dot, at the bottom right quadrant where a compass had been used to cut the original die. Spanish mint assayers in the 17th century used a compass as a precision tool to ensure the accuracy and symmetry of their coin dies. The compass helped them measure and mark the exact dimensions and proportions of the designs.
The obverse also displays the crowned Spanish coat of arms, the denomination in a Roman numeral of either an “I” for a one escudo, a “II” for a two escudos. Some 1628 varieties of the two escudos shows the denomination as an Arabic number “2”. Around the outer edge of the coin, which is never 100% visible because of the size of the die versus the smaller planchet, is a legend that reads PHILIPPVS. IIII. D. G, which is Latin for Philip IV by the Grace of God.
On the reverse, or cross side of the coin, there is a Jerusalem cross surrounded by a double quatrefoil tressure, with the outer arcs separated by a ring or annulet and each inner arc is separated by a fleur-de-lis in the quarters. The legend around the perimeter of the reverse reads HISPANIARIVM. REX for “King of Spain”, then the date.
The Nuevo Reino de Santa Fé mint was located in the Spanish Colony of New Granada, in what is now known as Bogotá, Columbia and was the first American colony authorized by the Spanish crown to issue gold coins.
The Origin of the Spanish Gold
The City of Bogotá was founded as the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada on August 6, 1538 by Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. In 1620, King Philip III (1598-1621) sold Captain Alonso Turillo the right to establish a mint at Bogotá with a branch mint at Cartagena. Turillo arrived in Colombia in 1621 and very quickly commenced minting silver coinage. Gold escudos were not officially made until 1622.
Once the Colombian coastal areas had been secured by Spain, the Conquistadores turned their attention inland to investigate rumors of gold. The subsequent expansion became known as the search for the fabled city of El Dorado. Unlike most myths of fabulous wealth, this one actually turned out to be somewhat true.
Prior to 1622, gold found in the Americas was typically melted into ingots and shipped to Spain. The only exception were gold artifacts that were repurposed or may have had more value to the Spanish kept in tact. Most of the artifacts taken by the Spanish were made by the Muisca peoples, who were master craftsmen of gold and silver jewelry, figurines, and ornate adornments.
One such example of Pre-Colombian artifacts being repurposed is the “Crown of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception”, known as the Crown of the Andes.
Many, if not most, Pre-Colombian works in gold were melted down in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, their precious metal repurposed for new religious and secular leaders both in Spain and the Americas.
This crown was made to adorn a sacred image of the Virgin Mary venerated in the cathedral of Popayán (Colombia). A symbol of the Virgin’s divine queenship, the crown is encircled by golden vine work set with emerald clusters in the shape of flowers, a reference to her purity. The diadem is topped by imperial arches and a cross-bearing orb that symbolizes Christ’s dominion over the world.
Where is the Treasure of El Mesuno today?
Sometime in 1937 and thereafter, the Banco de La República in Bogotá began acquiring most of the gold coins from the people who had found them as well as those around the town of Honda who had received them from the brothers for “goods and services”. In the 1950’s the bank sold off many of them to firms in the United States.
According to Leopoldo Cancio’s article in the 1978 and 1979 editions of Gaceta Numismatica, most of the coins ended up in the crucibles of jewelers or made into cufflinks, buttons, brooches, and all sorts of jewelry by Columbians. This may be due in part that many of the coins had unattractive rust stains, which was the result of being entombed in an iron box at the bottom of the river for 300 years. Unfortunately, precious few remain in their original unaltered mint state condition.
Today the coins of El Mesuno are one of the main attractions of the Casa de la Moneda, located in front of the Luis Ángel Arango library in Bogotá. The golden macuquinas are on display at the Luis Ángel Arango Library of the Banco de la República and Casa de la Moneda in Bogotá, Colombia. https://cybercol.com/colombia/museos/casamoneda.html
To date, the Mesuno treasure find is the largest colonial treasure ever found on the Colombian mainland and if it had been found today, the coins alone would be worth well over five million dollars, not including the priceless pre-Colombian gold artifacts.
If you are fortunate enough to find a Columbian one or two escudos minted between 1628 and 1642, it is more than likely that it came from the El Mesuno treasure hoard. This may be tough to prove since there were very few letters of authenticity provided by the Banco de la República or Casa de la Moneda in Bogotá when they sold the coins to collectors in the U.S.
Whether or not you find a specimen with provenance to an old auction or not, any Colombian gold escudo from this period is considered rare and a very valuable piece of Spanish Colonial history.
Sources:
Granada Numismatic Association digital bulletin No. 48 August 28, 2006 –by: José Arcelio Gómez http://www.numisma.es/JAG/048.pdf
Revista del Banco de la Republica, Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 1936, page 385.
Photos of the Mesuno treasure held by the Banco De Republica de Columbia: https://colecciones.banrepcultural.org/
Photo of 1636 Mesuno 2 escudos assayer “A”: https://colecciones.banrepcultural.org/document/2-escudos/63a069155d96b8790f341d75?pageId=6357a7bae27d753f221c616f&v=mosaic&q=escudos&pos=115&pgn=7
Photo of 1633 Mesuno 2 escudos: https://colecciones.banrepcultural.org/document/2-escudos/63a069145d96b8790f341cf6?coleccin%5B0%5D=NMO%20-%20Monedas&pos=244&pgn=16
Photo of 1635 Mesuno 2 escudos assayer “A”: https://colecciones.banrepcultural.org/document/2-escudos/63a069155d96b8790f341d72?coleccin%5B0%5D=NMO%20-%20Monedas&pos=247&pgn=16
Photo of 1629 Mesuno 2 escudos with assayer “P”: https://colecciones.banrepcultural.org/document/2-escudos/63a069155d96b8790f341d77?coleccin%5B0%5D=NMO%20-%20Monedas&pos=250&pgn=16
Photo of another 1636 Mesuno 2 escudos assayer “A”: https://colecciones.banrepcultural.org/document/2-escudos/63a069155d96b8790f341d71?coleccin%5B0%5D=NMO%20-%20Monedas&pos=246&pgn=16
Newspaper article El Tesoro del Mesuno o la Guaca del ’36 by Carlos Enrique Lozano. Special for Gaceta. El País newspaper of Cali Taken from: Gazette . Santiago de Cali. August 22, 2010. No. 962. By Carlos Enrique Lozano . El País . Pages 6 – 8.: https://timgo3000.blogspot.com/2010/09/el-tesoro-del-mesuno-o-la-guaca-del-36.html
Tiberio Murcia Godoy: “The History of the Treasure of El Mesuno in Honda Tolima”, August 31, 2009
El Tiempo Magazine – Sunday, November 4, 2007: “Historia de los pescadores que encontron en el rio Magdalena. Asi se despilfarro el tesoro de el mesuno” Story of the fishermen who found treasure in the Magdalena River. This is how the Mesuno’s treasure was squandered.
Historical and Cultural Honda: “The Treasure of Mesuno” – https://timgo3000.blogspot.com/2010/05/mesuno-hoard-revisited-published-in.html
Tiberio Murcia Godoy: Numismatic Memory. 70 years of the Mesuno Treasure 1936 – 2006
FiloNumis: News from the Treasure of El Mesuno
Colombia and its Mints (From Part II of Stacks December 10-11, 1986 Catalog Page 31-32)
The Banco de la República, Colombia video that shows the treasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zIz–P_Qng&t=93s
Gaceta Numismatica article by Leopoldo Cancio: “El tesorero de El Mesuno corregido y aumentado” (The Treasure of Mesuno corrected and enlarged ) Part 1 Vol. 51 December 1978: pages 32-40. Barcelona: Asociacion Numismatica Espanola.
Gaceta Numismatica article by Leopoldo Cancio: “El tesorero de El Mesuno corregido y aumentado” (The Treasure of Mesuno corrected and enlarged) Part 2 Vol. 52 March 1979: pages 37-49. Barcelona: Asociacion Numismatica Espanola.
Coin Galleries (Division of Stack’s) Fixed Price List, February-March 1959, lots G354 and G357. James Risk, “Coins from the Mesuno Hoard,” Coin Galleries (Division of Stack’s), pages 1-4.”
November of 2007 the Colombian newspaper El Nuevo Día published an article about the “Mesuno Hoard” with some interesting and rather dramatic revelations, which we summarize here. Entitled “Así se despilfarró el tesoro de El Mesuno”.
Book “Dig For Pirate Treasure” by Robert I. Nesmith
Book “Pescadores del Magdalena” by Jaime Buitrago, Editorial Minerva, Bogota published in 1938
“Numismatic Finds of the Americas An Inventory of American Coin Hoards, Shipwrecks, Single Finds, and Finds in Excavations” by: John M. Kleeberg (Pages 35 & 36)
Honda History Center: https://centrodehistoriahonda.blogspot.com/2023/08/hace-87-anos-en-honda-tolima.html
Daniel Frank Sedwick’s Cob Report – The “Mesuno Hoard” of Spanish Gold Revisited: https://coinweek.com/daniel-frank-sedwicks-cob-report-mesuno-hoard-spanish-gold-revisited/
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