Lost Treasure and Some Silver from the Virgin Islands

photo: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=895211494538865&set=pcb.895214697871878&ref=embed_post

Imagine finding one of these just laying on the bottom of the ocean. That's exactly what happened to a teenager from Florida who was diving off of Vero Beach. He was diving with a salvage crew looking for the lost treasures of the ill fated 1715 Spanish fleet. This find only happened three years ago, and there is still a lot more treasure to be found off of Florida's treasure coast. It's a 2 Escudo coin made in Mexico City and valued at over $10,00 US, not a bad pay day.

On July 31, 1715 a fleet of twelve treasure filled ships were in route from Havana, Cuba to Spain when they sailed right into a hurricane. Eleven of the twelve ships were slammed against the reefs off of Florida and sank with the treasure. To this day if you are lucky enough you can find gold or silver coins after big storms along the treasure coast of Florida. So if you are feeling lucky you can break out the metal detector and search the beaches. You can also dive and search for treasure but the salvage rights belong to Queen Jewels LLC, so you have to subcontract with them before doing so.

I have tried my luck along the beaches there but never scored any gold or silver, but it was still a lot of fun just to search. I did find lots of modern coins and garbage though!

This brings me to another coin of mine from the British Virgin Islands. It's from series of coins produced in 1985 paying tribute to all the lost treasures in the Caribbean. I've shared several in the past and this is a another in the series that is dedicated to a device called the astrolabe. Without this ancient technology crossing vast oceans would have been much harder and more precarious. Here's the coin of the day:

About the coin

From numista.com

These coins are fun to collect, and were made with sterling silver (92.5% silver) by The Franklin Mint in Pennsylvania. I'm still missing a few from the set, but I'll pick one up every now and again when the price is right and the coin is nice. This coin was a little odd in that the reverse was more milk spotted than the obverse, but it's still a beauty! Milk spots are the whitish discolorations that can appear on some silver coins.

In my personal opinion it's always wise to invest at least some of your portfolio in precious metals. They will always have value come hell or high water! You can't say that about fiat.

Astrolabe

The astrolabe is a device that could be used to calculate your latitude and local time by using the position of heavenly bodies above the horizon. In essence an early calculating device to figure out where you were and what time it was. Both were important the mariners prior to the creation of GPS and modern sextants. It would help you calculate the tides for safer sailing in shallow waters as well as cross the vast oceans. One of these would have been found on each ship that sank in the 1715 fleet, and every other ship on the seas at the time.

An astrolabe from the 9th century from north Africa, Wikipedia

The astrolabe in it's earliest form was developed around 200 BCE. It was improved over the centuries and became important in navigation, measuring the heights of objects, as well as in the science of astrology (a very accepted science at the time.) Even in antiquity humans were very clever! Just look at what the Romans accomplished if you doubt that!

That will just about do it for my post today. I hope I got you interested in treasure hunting, because there are lost treasures not only off of Florida but all around the world. The oceans are littered with them. There are also buried hordes of gold an silver all over the world. They are all just waiting to be found, and you need to do is look and get really lucky! Feel free to comment or ask any questions you might have, and thank you for all of your support, it really is greatly appreciated.

References

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces32493.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrolabe

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/florida-teen-find-rare-gold-coin-during-treasure-dive

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1715_Treasure_Fleet

Disclaimer:

I'm not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice, please always do your own research before spending your hard earned money.

While treasure hunting is a lot of fun, it's very risky. Odds of striking it rich are pretty low, but the adventure is where the rewards really lie!

Pictures are mine unless otherwise noted.

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