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SHIPWRECK (AND HOARD) HISTORIES
Part I
Throughout this catalog
we offer coins, ingots and artifacts from many dozens of different
shipwrecks and hoards—“treasure” in the truest sense. So as not to break up
the flow of the catalog in the listings, we offer the history behind each
wreck here in chronological order. Some lots in the catalog do not have
histories here either because we have no further information or what we do
know is brief enough to include with the lots. Please feel free to contact
us for more information about any of these wrecks or about shipwrecks or
treasure in general.
“Tumbaga wreck,” sunk ca. 1528 off
Grand Bahama Island
Before
there were coins and Spanish Treasure Fleets, Hernán Cortés and his men
acquired treasure in the form of Native-American gold and silver artifacts
that were melted down in Mexico for easier transportation. The
variable-fineness ingots thus created were known to archeologists but were
not thought to exist until the discovery of a wreck full of them off Grand
Bahama Island in 1992. After the salvage of what ultimately was determined
to be a ca.-1528 wreck, the ingots came to be known as “tumbaga” bars and
were subsequently distributed to the collecting community by Frank and
Daniel Sedwick. Like most official Spanish colonial bullion, each bar was
marked with the fineness (the gold in parts per 24, the silver in parts per
2400) and assayer, and especially with tax stamps to show that the king got
his cut. On these particular bars the tax stamps show a legend that reads
CAROLVS QVINTVS IMPERATOR for Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (who was
also Charles I of Spain, son of Queen Joanna).
Each
bar is described in detail in the 1993 book Tumbaga Silver for Emperor
Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, by Douglas Armstrong, a professional
conservator hired by the salvage company to clean and preserve all the
silver “tumbaga” bars. A new publication in the works by Agustín
García-Barneche should soon shed more light on the history and manufacture
of these ingots.
“Golden Fleece wreck,” sunk ca.
1550 in the northern Caribbean
This
wreck was nicknamed for a royal stamping (“Golden Fleece”) on several of the
gold “finger” bars (ingots) it yielded. Practically all the coins from this
wreck were Mexican Carlos-Juana silver coins (all assayers prior to S),
including several rarities, the most important being three specimens of the
Rincón “Early Series” 8 reales of 1538, the very first 8 reales ever struck
in the New World (the best of which achieved a record in 2006 for the
highest amount ever paid at auction for a Spanish colonial coin: $373,750!).
To date the finders of the wreck have not identified the wreck or disclosed
its exact location, but they affirm it was in international waters in the
northern Caribbean. Though it was a relatively small find of a few thousand
coins at most, it has been the primary source for Mexican Carlos-Juana coins
on the market since the mid-1990s.
Perhaps
more impressive than the coins from this wreck are the few dozen gold and
silver ingots it has yielded, all of which have entered the market
exclusively through Daniel Frank Sedwick. The varying purities of these bars
are reminiscent of the “tumbaga” bars (see above), although the later gold
ingots were been cast in somewhat standard shapes (“fingers”) and sizes. The
silver ingots from this wreck, popularly known as “splashes,” were simply
poured onto the ground, leaving a round, flat mound of silver that was
subsequently stamped with a tax stamp in the form of a crowned C for King
Charles I and/or a fineness in the usual block Roman numerals in parts per
2400, much like the karat system we use today. The gold ingots also show a
fineness marking, but no tax stamps or other markings, in parts per 24, with
a dot being a quarter karat. Many of the silver and gold ingots from this
wreck were cut into two or more parts, presumably to divide into separate
accounts.
Espadarte,
sunk in 1558 off the Island of Mozambique, east of Africa
Discovered in 2001 by Arqueonautas and code-named IDM-002, the Espadarte
was a Portuguese nau that sank in May or June of 1558 after breaking
her mast and being stranded in about 9 meters of water off Mozambique
Island. She was on a return trip to Portugal from India and was carrying
gold and porcelains, most of which was salvaged soon after sinking but at
least some of which remained on the sea-bed until our time.
Unidentified (presumably Spanish)
wreck sunk ca. 1590 off the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico
Salvaged surreptitiously by Florida divers, this wreck yielded Philip II
cobs of Mexico, Lima and Potosi, some in remarkably good condition. Many of
this wreck’s coins are recognizable by their jagged, truncated edges (from
corrosion) with pristine interior details. Without consideration of that
characteristic pattern of corrosion, the coins from this wreck can pass for
Atocha (1622) coins, which is how many of them were successfully sold
with fraudulent Atocha certificates in the 1990s.
San Martín,
sunk in 1618 off the east coast of Florida
Known locally as the “Green Cabin wreck,” the San Martín,
sunk in a storm on its way to Spain from Havana, was the almiranta
(the Admiral’s ship, effectively the rear guard of any Spanish convoy) of
the Honduran Fleet of 1618. As that Fleet was nowhere near the size of the
fleets from Mexico and South America, the San Martín was not carrying
a large amount of coins or other treasure, most of which was salvaged by the
Spanish after the sinking anyway. Modern salvage efforts on the site since
the 1960s, as well as finds on the beach opposite the wreck, have yielded a
few Mexican and Potosi cobs in generally poor condition.
“Rill Cove wreck,” sunk ca. 1618
off Cornwall, England
The name and nationality of the ship are unknown and even
the date of sinking is not certain. All we know is that records of its local
salvage began in 1618. After rediscovery of the wreck by Ken Simpson and
Mike Hall in 1975, eventually some 3,000 coins were recovered and sold, all
silver cobs, mostly Mexican, but also from Potosí and Spain. Most of the
coins are thin from corrosion but with dark toning on fields to enhance
details. Because it is rather early, this wreck has yielded several
important rarities like the F-oD dual-assayer issue from Mexico.
Atocha,
sunk in 1622 west of Key West, Florida
Arguably the most famous of all Spanish galleons salvaged in our time, the
Atocha was the almiranta of the 1622 Fleet, which left Havana
several weeks late and ran afoul of a hurricane. Eight of the 28-ship fleet
were lost, wrecked on the reefs between the Dry Tortugas and the Florida
Keys or sunk in deeper water. Five people survived the sinking of the
Atocha and were rescued by another vessel, but the wreck itself was
scattered after another hurricane hit the site exactly one month later. The
Spanish were never able to salvage what was one of the richest galleons ever
to sail.
The
cargo of the Atocha did not see light again until 1971, when the
first coins were found by the now-famous salvager Mel Fisher and his divers,
who recovered the bulk of the treasure in 1985 and thereby unleashed the
largest supply of silver cobs and ingots the market has ever seen. Well over
100,000 shield-type cobs were found in all denominations above the half
real, the great majority of them from Potosí, as were also the approximately
1,000 silver ingots (most the size of bread loaves). A handful of gold 1-
and 2-escudos cobs were also recovered, mostly from mainland Spanish mints,
but also a few from Colombia, officially the first gold coins ever struck in
the New World. The Atocha was also the source for most or all of the
first silver cobs struck in Colombia, as well as a few early coins from
Mexico, Lima, Spain and even Panama. Even more significant were the many
gold ingots, jewelry items, emeralds and other artifacts.
Because
of Mel Fisher’s huge publicity and because much of the treasure was
distributed to investors at high ratios compared to their investment
amounts, the coins from the Atocha have always sold for much
more—anywhere from 2 times to 10 times—than their non-salvage counterparts,
even in the numismatic market. (The “glamour market” in tourist areas
elevates these coins to as much as twenty times their base numismatic
value!) Individually numbered certificates with photos of each coin are
critical to the retention of an Atocha coin’s enhanced value.
Accompanying barcode tags with the coins also make it possible to replace
lost certificates through a database system at the Fisher operation in Key
West. With some exceptions each certificate also specifies the coin’s Grade,
from 1 (highest) to 4 (lowest), a highly subjective evaluation of corrosive
damage and overall quality. Most Atocha silver coins are also
recognizable by their shiny brightness, the result of a somewhat
controversial cleaning and polishing process catering more to non-collectors
than to serious numismatists.
Santa Margarita,
sunk in 1622 west of Key West, Florida
From
the same hurricane-stricken 1622 Fleet as the Atocha (above), the
Santa Margarita sank on a reef within sight of the Atocha and was
found in 1626 by Spanish salvagers, who recovered only roughly half its
treasure. The other half was found by Mel Fisher and company in 1980.
Margarita’s treasures were similar to those found on the Atocha,
with fewer coins in comparatively worse condition overall (yet not as
harshly cleaned afterward). As with Atocha coins, original Fisher
certificates are critical to the premium value for these coins, which is on
par with Atocha coins. In 2008 divers with the subcontractor company
Blue Water Recovery found more gold on the Santa Margarita and also a
lead box stuffed full of pearls.
“Dry Tortugas wreck,” sunk ca. 1622
off the Dry Tortugas, west of Key West, Florida
Presumably a sister-ship to the Atocha and Santa
Margarita of the 1622 Fleet (above), the “Dry Tortugas wreck” was
discovered in 1989 and reworked in 1991 by Seahawk Deep Ocean Technology.
Among the finds were numerous gold bars (but no silver bars) and about 1,200
heavily eroded silver cobs similar in composition to the Atocha
finds, all picked from the ocean floor by a robot. Cannons and other
artifacts expected on a typical galleon were notably absent. The bulk of the
treasure was eventually sold to a store/museum in Key West that later went
bankrupt. Years later it all turned up at a bankruptcy auction, where the
bulk of the treasure was repurchased by some of the former principals of
Seahawk for a new museum.
Campen,
sunk in 1627 off the Isle of Wight, England
The East
Indiaman Campen was part of a seven-ship fleet that encountered a
heavy storm off the Isle of Wight in October of 1627. Seeking safety in the
Solent north of the island, four of the ships attempted to navigate through
the Needles rocks at the island’s westernmost tip and two of them—the
Campen and the Vliegende Draecke (“Flying Dragon”)—sank nearby.
Soon after, all of the latter ship’s cargo was saved, but only a couple
thousand silver coins were recovered from the Campen, leaving about
8,000 coins to be found in our time. Most of these silver coins, recovered
by divers beginning in June of 1979, were Dutch “lion” daalders, but they
also included a few cobs, which are very rarely seen on the market today.
Concepción,
sunk in 1641 off the northeast coast of Hispaniola
The
Concepción was one of the most significant Spanish wrecks of all time,
serving the Spanish with a loss of over 100 tons of silver and gold
treasure. The almiranta of a 21-ship fleet, the Concepción was
already in poor repair when the Europe-bound fleet encountered a storm in
September of 1641, leaving her disabled and navigating under makeshift sails
amid disagreement among its pilots about their location. Weeks later, she
grounded on a reef in an area now named the Silver Shoals, just east of
another shoal known as the Abrojos, which the pilots were trying to avoid.
After another storm hit the wrecked ship and the admiral and officers left
in the ship’s only longboat, the remaining crew resorted to building rafts
from the ship’s timbers. Survivors’ accounts pointed to drowning, starvation
and even sharks for the approximately 300 casualties. In the fallout that
ensued, none of the survivors could report the wreck’s location with
accuracy, so it sat undisturbed until New England’s William Phipps found it
in 1687 and brought home tons of silver and some gold, to the delight of his
English backers.
The
Concepción was found again in 1978 by Burt Webber, Jr., whose divers
recovered some 60,000 silver cobs, mostly Mexican 8 and 4 reales, and also
some Potosí and rare Colombian cobs, including more from the Cartagena mint
than had been found on any other shipwreck. Unlike the Maravillas 15
years later, the Concepción did not yield any gold cobs in our time,
and any significant artifacts found were retained by the government of the
Dominican Republic who oversaw the salvage. The bulk of the silver cobs
found on the Concepción were heavily promoted, even in department
stores. The site is still worked from time to time with limited success.
“San Francisco wreck,” sunk ca.
1649 off the Cape Verde Islands, west of Africa
The identity of this wreck is unknown, its nickname simply
corresponding to the nearest land-area to the wreck (São Francisco) on the
island of Santiago. The salvage firm Arqueonautas worked the wrecksite in
1999-2000, and though unable to identify the vessel, they theorized it was a
“Spanish ship with a Portuguese Captain with money to buy slaves.” The first
finds from the “San Francisco wreck,” including an extremely rare
silver-plated astrolabe dated 1645, were sold by Sotheby’s (London) in
December, 2000, buried in a clocks and watches auction that got little
publicity in the shipwreck-collecting field. The relatively few coins from
this wreck, all silver cobs from Mexico and Potosí in the mid- to late
1640s, are generally rare and appear to date just before the massive recall
and melting in 1649 at Potosí that so significantly altered worldwide usage
of Spanish colonial cobs.
Capitana
(Jesús María de la Limpia Concepción), sunk in 1654 off Chanduy,
Ecuador
This
wreck was the largest loss ever experienced by the Spanish South Seas
(Pacific) Fleet, of which the Jesus María de la Limpia Concepción was
the capitana (“captain’s ship” or lead vessel) in 1654. Official
records reported the loss of 3 million pesos of silver (2,212 ingots, 216
chests of coins, and 22 boxes of wrought silver), augmented to a total of as
much as 10 million pesos when contraband and private consignments were taken
into account. By comparison, the entire annual silver production in
Peru at that time was only about 6-7 million pesos!
Obviously overloaded, the Capitana sank technically due to pilot
error, which drove the ship onto the reefs south of the peninsula known as
Punta Santa Elena, a geographic feature the pilot thought he had cleared.
Twenty people died in the disaster. For eight years afterward, Spanish
salvagers officially recovered over 3 million pesos of coins and
bullion (with probably much more recovered off the record), leaving only an
unreachable lower section for divers to find in our time. Ironically, the
main salvager of the Capitana in the 1650s and early 1660s was none
other than the ship’s silvermaster, Bernardo de Campos, who was responsible
for the ship’s being overloaded with contraband in the first place.
The
wreck was rediscovered in the mid-1990s and salvaged (completely, according
to some) in 1997. After a 50-50 split with the Ecuadorian government in
1998, investors sold most of their half of the more than 5,000 coins
recovered at auction in 1999. Almost exclusively Potosí 8 and 4 reales, the
coins were a healthy mix of countermarked issues of 1649-1652, transitional
issues of 1652, and post-transitional pillars-and-waves cobs of 1653-1654,
many in excellent condition and expertly conserved.
As an
interesting footnote, the very coins salvaged from the Capitana by
the Spanish in 1654 were lost again on the Maravillas wreck of 1656
(see next), and some of those coins salvaged from the Maravillas were
lost again in the wreck of the salvage vessel Madama do Brasil off
Gorda Cay (Bahamas) in 1657. Furthering Spain’s woes was the destruction of
another treasure fleet in 1657 by English marauders fresh from a victory in
the Bay of Cádiz off Santa Cruz on the island of Tenerife in the Canary
Islands.
Maravillas,
sunk in 1656 off Grand Bahama Island
As the
almiranta of the homebound Spanish fleet in January of 1656, the
Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas was officially filled with over five
million pesos of treasure (and probably much more in contraband, as was
usually the case). That treasure included much of the silver salvaged from
the South Seas Fleet’s Capitana of 1654 that wrecked on Chanduy Reef
off Ecuador (see above). The ill-fated treasure sank once again when the
Maravillas unexpectedly ran into shallow water and was subsequently
rammed by one of the other ships of its fleet, forcing the captain to try to
ground the Maravillas on a nearby reef on Little Bahama Bank off
Grand Bahama Island. In the ensuing chaos, exacerbated by strong winds, most
of the 650 people on board died in the night, and the wreckage scattered.
Spanish salvagers soon recovered almost half a million pesos of treasure,
followed by more recoveries over the next several decades, yet with over
half of the official cargo still unfound.
The
first rediscovery of the Maravillas in the twentieth century was by
Robert Marx and his company Seafinders in 1972, whose finds were featured in
an auction by Schulman in New York in 1974. Included among the coins in this
sale were some previously unknown Cartagena silver cobs of 1655 and
countermarked Potosí coinage of 1649-1651 and 1652 transitionals, in
addition to many Mexican silver cobs and a few Bogotá cob 2 escudos. The
second big salvage effort on the Maravillas was achieved by Herbert
Humphreys and his company Marex in the late 1980s and early 1990s, resulting
in two big sales by Christie’s (London) in 1992 and 1993, which featured
many Bogotá cob 2 escudos, more Mexico and Potosí silver cobs, and several
important artifacts. The most recent big sale of Maravillas finds,
presumably from one of the many salvage efforts from the 1970s and 1980s,
took place in California in 2005, again with a good quantity of Bogotá cob 2
escudos. The wreck area is still being searched today, but officially the
Bahamian government has not granted any leases on the site since the early
1990s. It is possible the bulk of the treasure is still to be found.
Vergulde Draeck
(“Gilt Dragon”), sunk in 1656 off Western Australia
Much has been written about the loss and salvage of this
Dutch East India Company trading vessel (known as an East Indiaman), which
some consider to be Australia’s counterpart to Florida’s 1715 Fleet in terms
of availability of reasonably priced cobs for collectors. In contrast to the
Spanish treasure wrecks, the Vergulde Draeck carried only a modest
amount of just silver cobs (eight chests totaling 45,950 coins), mostly
Mexican but also some cobs from Potosí and Spain as well as some Colombian
rarities. The ship was on its way from the Netherlands to Batavia
(modern-day Jakarta, Indonesia) when suddenly it found itself wrecked on a
reef some three miles from land in the early morning hours of April 28,
1656. Only 75 of the 193 people on board were able to reach the shore, and
seven of them soon left in the ship’s pinnace to seek help in Batavia. When
authorities there learned of the wreck, several attempts were made to rescue
the other survivors and, more important, the eight chests of treasure, but
no sign of the wreck or survivors was ever found. The wreck remained
undiscovered until 1963 when spear-fishermen stumbled upon it and began to
recover coins and artifacts. Subsequent salvage efforts, primarily under the
supervision of the Western Australian Museum, whose certificates often
accompany the coins and carry a small premium, have yielded only about half
of the total coins officially recorded to be on board this ship.
San Miguel el Arcángel
(“Jupiter wreck”), sunk in 1659 off Jupiter Inlet, east coast of Florida
As well
known as this wreck has become among the Florida treasure community and
shipwreck collectors around the world, surprisingly little has been written
about it, and not one major auction has been dedicated to its finds.
The
San Miguel was not a big treasure galleon in a huge convoy; rather, she
was a lone aviso, a smaller ship for carrying letters and other
communications quickly back to Spain. But unlike most avisos,
the San Miguel was carrying some important treasure, as it was in the
right time and place to take on samples of the unauthorized “Star of Lima”
coinage of 1659 for the King to see. In October the San Miguel
encountered a hurricane off the southeast coast of Florida, grounded on a
sandbar, and broke apart rapidly, leaving only 34 survivors among the 121
people on board. Those survivors were all quickly captured by natives (Ais)
and therefore had no opportunity to salvage the scattered wreck.
Today
only parts of the wreck of the San Miguel have been found, discovered
by lifeguard Peter Leo in 1987, in about 10 to 20 feet of water and under as
much as 20 feet of sand. Salvage is ongoing. Besides a couple of gold ingots
and one large silver ingot, the yield to date has been modest, mostly
low-end silver cobs of Mexico and Potosí, a good amount of the rare 1659
“Star of Lima” silver coinage, a couple Bogotá gold cobs, and some rare
Cartagena silver cobs. All were sold through various dealers and private
transactions. If the hull of the ship is ever found, as the salvagers think
it will be, the market may finally see some of the gold cobs of the
“Star of Lima” issue of 1659.
Sacramento,
sunk in 1668 off Bay of All Saints, Bahia, Brazil
The lead vessel of a 50-ship annual convoy between Lisbon,
Portugal, and Bahia, Brazil, the Sacramento hit a sandbar at night
and sank in a squall on May 5, 1668, sending some 400 people to their grave.
Official Brazilian government salvage on the wreck took place beginning in
1976, at some point involving the famed salvager Robert Marx. Because it was
chiefly a military vessel sailing from Portugal to Brazil, the Sacramento
was carrying just a few consumer goods (like textiles) and not any
significant amount of coins. Nevertheless, what little from the salvaging of
this ship has reached collectors has been almost exclusively Portuguese
silver coins with Brazilian countermarks from 1663, although a few Spanish
colonial cobs (also countermarked) and a few artifacts have surfaced too.
1681 Fleet
(“Porto Bello wreck”), sunk in 1681 off Porto Bello, Panama—REVISED AND
UPDATED
The
1681 “Tierra Firme” Fleet, commanded by Juan Antonio Vicentelo de Leca y
Herrara, better known as the Marqués de Brenes, left Cádiz, Spain, on
January 28, 1681, and reached Cartagena, Colombia, on April 2. From there a
small armada of 12 ships was sent out to assess the danger of pirates in the
area, as this was the age of Henry Morgan and other privateers on the
Spanish Main. Bad weather also intervened, and it was not till November that
the 1681Fleet finally left Cartagena bound for Porto Bello, Panama.
As the Fleet approached
Porto Bello, strong winds and hard rain prevented the pilots from
recognizing the land until nighttime, by which time they had passed their
destination and found themselves near dangerous reefs off the Islas
Naranjos. The Capitana (lead vessel), Santo Cristo de San Agustín y
Nuestra Señora del Rosario, immediately anchored and signaled the rest
of the fleet to anchor as well. It was too late for the merchant nao
Boticaria, which struck a reef there at midnight on November 29, but
gently enough that almost everyone on board was saved.
Rescue boats soon
arrived. As the Boticaria stayed on the reef for three days before
sinking, salvagers were able save almost everything. Meanwhile, news came in
that another ship in the fleet, the galleon Nuestra Señora de la Soledad,
had wrecked on another reef near even farther along, off a point near a
western entrance to the Chagres River known as Punta de Brujas (not to be
confused with Brujas on the Pacific coast). Unlike the Boticaria,
however, the 22-gun Soledad hit the reef with such force that 50
people died, including its owner, Captain Antonio de Lima.
The rest of the 1681
Fleet finally reached Porto Bello on December 3, still under adverse weather
conditions. More casualties arose when the ship Chaperon found
herself stranded at the mouth of the Chagres River and in danger of sinking
due to lack of anchoring equipment and personnel. In the process of
delivering assistance, a small ship known as a tartana was lost, and
by the time the other rescue ships made it the Chaperon they found
that its crew had all escaped and only three boatloads of goods could be
saved before the ship sank. Curiously, pirate ships under Henry Morgan,
including his flagship Satisfaction, were lost in 1671 as the
tartana.
After taking care of
business in Porto Bello, the ill-fated fleet returned to Cartagena on March
27, 1682, and on May 8 set sail for Havana, Cuba. That night yet another
merchant ship, the Santa Teresa, captained by Don Manuel de Galarza,
was lost, and several other vessels had to return to Cartagena. Then, while
en route to Havana, the galleon Nuestra Señora de la Concepción y San
Ignacio de Loyola hit a reef just past Cape San Antonio, Cuba, and was
set afire after its cargo was salvaged. Reaching Havana on June 1, the
ragtag 1681 Fleet finally made it back to Spain on September 2.
The various lost ships
of the 1681 Fleet have been salvaged off and on in modern times. While it
would seem that the location of each wreck would indicate its identity, the
fact is that most sources have not been well documented, and the wrecks of
pirate ships with loot from the same fleet are possible as well.
Consolación
(“Isla de Muerto shipwreck”), sunk in 1681 off Santa Clara Island, Ecuador
When
salvage first began on this wreck in 1997, it was initially believed to be
the Santa Cruz and later called El Salvador y San José, sunk
in August of 1680; however, research by Robert Marx after the main find in
subsequent years confirmed its proper name and illuminated its fascinating
history.
Intended to be part of the Spanish “South Seas Fleet” of 1681, which left
Lima’s port of Callao in April, the Consolación apparently was
delayed and ended up traveling alone. At the Gulf of Guayaquil, off
modern-day Ecuador, the Consolación encountered English pirates, led
by Bartholomew Sharpe, who forced the Spanish galleon to sink on a reef off
Santa Clara Island (later nicknamed “Isla de Muerto,” or Dead Man’s Island).
Before the pirates could get to the ship, the crew set fire to her and tried
to escape to the nearby island without success. Angered by their inability
to seize the valuable cargo of the Consolación, Sharpe’s men killed
the Spaniards and tried in vain to recover the treasure through the efforts
of local fishermen. Spanish attempts after that were also fruitless, so the
treasure of the Consolación sat undisturbed until our time.
When
vast amounts of silver coins were found in the area starting in the 1990s,
by local entrepreneurs Roberto Aguirre and Carlos Saavedra (“ROBCAR”) and
the government of Ecuador in 1997 under mutual agreement, the exact name and
history of the wreck were unknown, and about 8,000 of the coins (all Potosí
silver cobs) were subsequently sold at auction by Spink New York in December
2001 as simply “Treasures from the ‘Isla de Muerto.’” Most of the coins
offered were of low quality and poorly preserved but came with individually
numbered photo-certificates. Later, after the provenance had been properly
researched and better conservation methods were used, a Florida syndicate
arranged to have ongoing finds from this wreck permanently encapsulated in
hard-plastic holders by the authentication and grading firm ANACS, with the
wreck provenance clearly stated inside the “slab”; more recent offerings
have bypassed this encapsulation. Ongoing salvage efforts have good reason
to be hopeful, as the manifest of the Consolación stated the value of
her registered cargo as 146,000 pesos in silver coins in addition to silver
and gold ingots, plus an even higher sum in contraband, according to custom.
Joanna,
sunk in 1682 off South Africa
An
English East Indiaman on her way to Surat on the west coast of India, the
Joanna separated from her convoy and sank in rough seas on a reef off
the southernmost tip of South Africa on June 8, 1682, sending 10 people to
their death. Eventually 104 survivors reached the Dutch colony of Cape Town,
from which a salvage party was soon dispatched. The Joanna’s cargo
consisted of 70 chests of silver coins, of which the salvage party reported
having recovered only about 28,000 guilders’ worth. In 1982 the wreck was
rediscovered by a group of South African divers led by Gavin Clackworthy,
who brought up silver ingots (discs) and more than 23,000 silver cobs, most
of them Mexican 4 and 8 reales of Charles II in generally low grade, but a
few showing bold, formerly very rare dates 1679-1681. Over the past two
decades, these cobs have entered the market from both private dealers and
auctions, but always in relatively small quantities at a time. Almost all
the coins are in very worn condition, usually thin and nearly featureless,
but without the heavy encrustation and pitting that characterize Caribbean
finds.
Sunken city of Port Royal, Jamaica
(submerged by earthquake in 1694)
As a
notorious pirate hangout in the 17th century, Port Royal’s famous bars and
brothels became repositories for much of the looted treasure of the
Caribbean. In 1692 an earthquake sent most of the city plunging into the
sea, and it never fully recovered. What was left of Port Royal became a
British Naval station for years afterward and it was continually racked by
hurricanes (in 1721, 1726, 1744, and 1951), fires (in 1703 and 1815), and
even another earthquake (in 1907). In the period of 1965 to 1968, the famous
salvager Robert Marx dove the sunken city and recovered more than two
million small artifacts (many lost AFTER 1692), some of which have appeared
in the treasure market from time to time.
All Rights reserved Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC -
Reproduction is prohibited without permission of the author/s.
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