Ship's Bounty
A close-up of a Spanish gold coin, three Portuguese silver coins and a pair of brass dividers that were found from a shipwreck off the south west coast of Namibia. All the coins were minted in the late 1400s or early 1500s, and the dividers were used for measuring distance on a map during navigation. The reverse of the gold coin depicts Ferdinand and Isabella, two Spanish monarchs of the time. Geologists stumbled on a shipwreck that could date back to Africa's earliest explorers. It's loaded with cannons, gold coins, navigational instruments and other treasures. The ship could date back to the late 1400s and be the contemporary of vessels used by Vasco de Gama and Columbus.