^Lot 1806 MEXICO, Mexico City, pillar 8 reales, Philip V, 1742 MF.

MEXICO, Mexico City, pillar 8 reales, Philip V, 1742 MF. Yonaka-M8.42; KM-103; Cal-1461. 21.07 grams. Corroded with parts of the end missing though most details still visible, rare provenance. 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. Pedigreed to the Steve Valentine Collection, with original certificate from the salvor/conservator. Recovered from: St. Geran, sunk in 1744 off Mauritius in the Indian Ocean