Gold treasure coins go on market
More than $1 million worth of Spanish treasure coins will be sold by Blanchard and Company and Monaco Rare Coins. The 295 gold and silver coins were cargo in the…
More than $1 million worth of Spanish treasure coins will be sold by Blanchard and Company and Monaco Rare Coins.
The 295 gold and silver coins were cargo in the Spanish 1715 Plate Fleet that sank in a hurricane July 31, 1715, off the east coast of Florida.
Eleven of 12 treasure ships were sent to the bottom by the storm, drowning more than 1,000 people.
These coins were recovered July 31, 2015, by 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, LLC, exactly 300 years after the fleet’s sinking. The treasure was found in only six feet of water just a hundred feet from the beach in Vero Beach, Fla.
1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels is a group of Florida based shipwreck salvors who since 2010 have owned the exclusive rights to the recovery of the 1715 fleet’s treasure.
The gold coins range in denomination from 1 escudo to 8 escudos. They were struck in Colombia, Mexico and Peru and are dated between 1692 and 1715 during the reigns of Spanish Kings Charles II and Philip V.
All but five are Mint State, and one recovered treasure coin is graded NGC MS-66,” said John Albanese of Bedminster, N.J., the dealer who brokered the deal.
“In addition to the 224 coins discovered in 2015 by 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels there are 71 shipwreck coins from the 1715 Fleet found during their two earlier underwater expeditions in 2010 and 2013 that now will also be available to collectors,” Albanese said.
Some coins were recovered inside a 3-1/2 foot bronze rail gun.
We discovered 50 gold and 40 silver coins in the breech of the cannon,” said Brent Brisben, 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels co-founder and operations manager.
“NGC worked directly with the recovery group to not only preserve the important provenance of these coins, but also the story of their individual recovery. For the first time, specific dive missions and finds are referenced on the NGC certification label,” said NGC Chairman Mark Salzberg.
In addition to the NGC encapsulation, each coin will be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Brisben, along with the original, numbered archeological tag that was used by the expedition crew to denote each item as it was discovered and recovered. The unique tag number is indicated on the certificate of authenticity for each coin.
The special labels indicate either the coin is from the “300th Anniversary Find” or the “2010 Cannon Find.”
“A quantity of uncirculated Spanish gold coins such as this simply does not exist outside of a shipwreck discovery,” Salzberg said.
Visit www.BlanchardGold.com, or www.MonacoRareCoins.com for more information about the marketing firms.
This article was originally printed in World Coin News.
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More Collecting Resources
• More than 600 issuing locations are represented in the Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800 .
• The Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700 is your guide to images, prices and information on coins from so long ago.
