Rare Diver's Division 1 Reale Treasure Coin from the 1715 Fleet Glory Days of Mel Fisher - a Cannon Beach Treasure Company Exclusive
Please Note: This is an authentic 1715 Fleet Shipwreck Treasure Coin, and you will receive the exact pendant in the photographs and description.
FOR PENDANT SIZE SEE COIN DETAILS BELOW
One of the most famed treasure fleets of all time, the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet yields some of the most stunning examples of early 1700's silver Spanish "cob" shipwreck treasure coins.
Crudely minted cob coins - short for cabo de barra, or "end of the bar," each has its own unique shape - and combined with the sea wear and stunning patinas, each is a small work of art. And the coins in this special collection were recovered during the heyday of the 1715 Fleet recovery efforts, when Mel Fisher and his subcontractors headed crews destined to discover these precious treasures!
The Golden Age of Piracy 1650-1730
What connection does the 1715 Fleet have to Pirates: These "pieces of 8" are also the famous coins of pirate legend and lore. The Spanish quickly began salvaging their fleet. But pirate Henry Jennings amassed a crew and attacked Spanish salvage camp in early 1716. They made off with upwards of 120,000 pieces of 8. Obviously, this coin survived that raid, and lay hidden for hundreds of years on the ocean bottom, to be salvaged only a few years ago.
Blackbeard was also prowling the Florida coast and Caribbean at this time and drinking rum with Jennings!
Your 1715 Fleet Shipwreck Treasure Coin
- Date: 1689
- Denomination: 1 Reale (Rare denomination and mint - see Robert's Notes below)
- Mint: Potosi, Upper Peru (present day Bolivia)
- Assayer: VR
- Ruler: King Philip of Spain
- Coin Metal: Silver
- Bezel Metal: 14K Gold and Proprietary Non-tarnishing Sterling Silver
- Obverse (Front): Jerusalem Cross
- Reverse: (Back): Pillars and Waves
- Articulating Nautical Shackle Bail Interior Diameter: Will accommodate chain or leather necklace up to 6.2mm
- Pendant Size including bezel: 7/8" Across, 1 1/2" Tall - the diameter of a U.S. quarter
Notes From Robert: Beautiful cross and pillars detail. Very hard to photograph and capture its beauty in hand.
Slight, interesting "ghosting" where the hammer bounced and re-struck part of the Pillars and Waves. Visible "I" denomination, VR assayer's initials,"89" two digit date (they didn't do 4 digit dates in that part of the coin), and clear partial "PLV SVL TRA" meaning More Beyond - see below.
Rare mint and denomination. Most of the coins recovered from "The Fleet" were minted in Mexico City. Less than 10% of the coins were struck in Potosi, and due to their small size, small coins like this didn't survive as well as their large silver dollar-size 8 reale counterparts. And only about 7% of the coins minted at this time were 1 reales. The majority were the large 8 reales.
One with this early date usually means it was a part of someone's personal money headed back to Spain.
A CBTC Exclusive - the Diver's Division Collection: This coin was recovered from the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet - sometimes called the 1715 Plate Fleet - in the early 1980s.
When I acquired it, it was in "as recovered" condition. I gently restored it in our conservation lab.
I was born in the summer of '62. Thirty years later, I used to dive on another "Fleet" shipwreck site near there in the '90s. My main job was to film and photograph the treasure being recovered. But when I wasn't filming I was searching for treasure on the bottom. It was a two hour boat ride to the site from our dock inside Sebastian Inlet. So on the days I had to head back to Key Largo where I lived, I would travel out on the boat in the morning and work most of the day, then swim the half-mile or so to shore with my gear to a car waiting with a friend to take me back home.
A diver's division is what a treasure diver received at the end of a diving season, IF treasure was recovered. During my diving years, sometimes I got a division, and sometimes I didn't. As us treasure hunters say, "That's why we call it treasure 'hunting" and not 'finding.'"
Ahhh, "The good 'Ol Days."
Your 1715 Fleet Shipwreck Piece of Eight Pendant Comes Complete with:
- Our 100% Authentic Lifetime Guarantee
- A Detailed, 3 Page Certificate of Authenticity Researched and Written by Robert Lewis Knecht, who used to dive on the 1715 Fleet
- 10 Page full color Historic brief about the Potosi Mint, written by Robert
- "Pieces of Eight" Historic Brief
- The Coins of the Lost Galleons Book
- Treasure Hunters Gazette Booklet
- Mini Museum display for when you are not wearing your treasure
- A Treasure Jewelry Care Card
