Doomed 1715 Spanish Plate fleet

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PetesPockets55
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Doomed 1715 Spanish Plate fleet

#1 Unread post by PetesPockets55 »

For those that are interested, the following quote is taken from "The Treasure Divers Guide" (Revised Edition of 1972) by John S. Potter: (Information in parenthesis is mine if incorrect and my apologies in advance if something is amiss with this post)
-----Page 250 (refers to recovery of coins from the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet)----
"When hurricanes Cleo and Dora closed the 1964 diving season, $1,000,000 in treasure- mostly gold coin- had been salvaged.
And to clean the thousands of encrusted cobbs, Wagner and Long constructed a rotating box filled with steel shot and detergent.( hugeeyes CRINGE & SHUDDER) After two hours of burnishing inside the silver coins were shining. On October 8,1964, a small assortment of coins was auctioned by Henry Christensen. The best piece, a mint-condition doubloon dated 1711, went for $3600. A similar 8-escudo coin dated 1695 netted $3500. The total take from just over a hundred coins, mostly gold , was $2900-and average of nearly $300 apiece!"
-----------------And from page 251-------------
"Early in 1965............
On the next day, May 31,1965, the all-time record in the history of treasure salvage was established (ca. 1972). Nearly the entire Real Eight team went out. Underwater visibility was excellent.The Derelict's blaster scooped out an enormous crater measuring 30 feet across. When Wagner and the others saw the contents they could only stare, spellbound. A sheet of shimmering gold coins covered the crater's bottom right out to the limit of vision, where even more coins were stacked in little piles against the far reef. The salvage that day, in which Fischer's group participated, included 518 doubloons (8-escudos), 382 4-escudos, and 228 2-escudos for a grand total of 1127 coins! All but 183 from Lima had the Mexico mint marking. Since nearly half the coins were big 8-escudo doubloons the recovery was practically the entire content of a treasure chest. Over $1,000,000 at prevailing numismatic values (1972 values), were taken home that night, where the counting and recording went on until early morning."
There is no mention of dates relating to this particular recovery but using the numbers mentioned above:
518/1127 = .46 (%)were doubloons
183/1127 = .162 (%) were Lima mint
.460 x .162 ~= .074 (%) Lima Mint Doubloons- (approximate)
.074 x 1127 ~= 84 (approximate number of 8-escudo gold coins with the Lima mint recovered that day!!)

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1711 Lima MS61 NGC 8-Escudo owned by TedBundo
1711 Lima MS61 NGC 8-Escudo owned by TedBundo

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Re: Doomed 1715 Spanish Plate fleet

#2 Unread post by Daniel »

That is something else! I can't image how it would feel to find such a treasure or even one of these coins.

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Re: Doomed 1715 Spanish Plate fleet

#3 Unread post by PetesPockets55 »

I had just read this section recently when the other post about the 1711 Lima mint 8-escudo came up again and remembered the mention of one being recovered in the book. Even though it is not probably the same coin, it seemed interesting.

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Re: Doomed 1715 Spanish Plate fleet

#4 Unread post by TheCoinGuy »

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing it. Hard to imagine how a man with the patience to make such a recovery, could clean them with steel shot and detergent. It reminds me of the people that found that large gold coin hoard a few years ago. I think it was in California, but I'm not sure. Anyway, they cleaned them and realized 7 million less because of it.

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