$1 Million in Gold Coins From 1715 Shipwreck on the Market

WTOP ^ | November 7, 2016

[nickcarraway]

A New Orleans investment firm has begun marketing gold coins from a 300-year-old shipwreck discovered off Florida’s coast.

Blanchard and Co. is one of two dealers offering the coins from an area where 11 treasure-laden ships of a Spanish fleet were smashed onto reefs by a hurricane on July 31, 1715. The other dealer is California-based Monaco Rare Coins.

John Albanese, a New Jersey-based coin expert who brokered the sales, said in an interview Friday that most of the 295 coins being offered were found by divers exploring the area last year on the 300th anniversary of the disaster.

[lastchance]

I live on the “Treasure Coast” which is called that because of the 1715 wreck. I remember reading about that find.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

A Blanchard news release says the coins were struck in Columbia, Mexico and Peru. They were dated between 1692 and 1715. Most are from a discovery made in 6 feet of water about 100 feet off the coast of Vero Beach, Florida.

Wow...just sitting there waiting to be discovered for 300 years in 6 feet of water only 100 feet offshore. Incredible.

Ships of the 1715 fleet were heading to Spain from Havana when they encountered the hurricane near what is now Vero Beach. Some 1,000 people died in the maritime disaster.

That's some serious loss of life!

Really crude coins. Look at the edges...

The coins vary in denomination, size and shape. “They were very crudely made. They were handmade,” said Albanese, who added that the coins’ worth at the time they were made was based on their weight.

I guess the coins were struck, then the edges nibbled off to get to the correct weight.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Is it too early to talk to, ‘The Big Guy’ about my Christmas Wish List?

“Santa, Baby...”

[sheana]

I have one from the Atocha with a gold necklace bezel done by Mel Fishers jeweler. One of the first ones sold.

[Talisker]

It would be really fun to own a gold coin from a shipwreck lost in the days of the pirates!

[catnipman]

“I have one from the Atocha with a gold necklace bezel done by Mel Fishers jeweler. One of the first ones sold.”

I’m jealous ...

[Parley Baer]

You have me beat. I do have a “piece of eight” that was minted in Potosi, Bolivia. I don’t remember the date as I have it stashed away. I bought maybe 45 years ago.

[lastchance]

I had a 1715 coin but never an Atocha piece. I bet yours is beautiful. My husband is good friends with one of the guys who dove on the Atocha so I got to see a lot of what was brought up.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

There is treasure off the coast of Crescent City

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Jonathan_(steamer)

[bkopto]

So did the .gov thieves get their pound of flesh? I imagine they did.

[Axenolith]

TREASURE PORN!!! It’s as good as gun porn! :-)

[sheana]

We have some other pieces that hubby found while diving off the coast here in California we sent them to a numismatist and he verified they were real. After research they determined they were from a ghost ship, a ship that disappeared but no one really knew where.

[sheana]

That’s super cool.

[Parley Baer]

Interesting. I like that kind of stuff if you will.

[sheana]

Me too. That era has always fascinated me and then you add in my love for the sea. We have a sailboat that hubby used to dive. Now it’s my floating condo. Rarely take it out.

[lastchance]

It was very interesting to hear about the dive.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 11/07/2016. Thanks nickcarraway.

[Little Ray]

No.
They are ‘cobs.’
A chunk of approximately the right weight was literally cut off bar gold (or silver) with chisel, then the chunk put in the die and struck. If enough of the markings appeared on the cob, it was legal tender and issued.
But, yes, if the cob was overweight, they’d clip off a piece.