u/ASpookyWarthog

I’m an amateur and budget coin collector who focuses on Spanish Colonial coins. I have had some great experiences in the last couple years meeting amazing people who help keep the passion and history alive. My local coin shop knows I like shipwreck coins and one day they said they found a bar in the back the owner had purchased 20 years prior. They brought it out a year ago and I saw it in the box but just recently they let me fully inspect it.

It’s a 56 pound bar with many stamps such as the one identifying the receiver ( N with s), tax stamps and purity indicator that’s almost impossible to decipher. It also has the stamp CXVI (116), I believe this is the serial number for the ship manifest and key to linking it to the ship. I believe the divots you see on the sides are from the tool they used to pull the bar out of the mold while it was still hot! Such an amazing piece of history. When I was roating it for photos and sand started poring out of a hole on the side and I’m not ashamed to admit I put it in a coin case and kept it haha

John at the Mel Fisher treasure store was able to help me track down another bar with the same N s stamp, it was from the Maravillas wreck. I reached out to Dan Sedwick hoping to find out if it had been at auction before and if so what certifications it had with it. However, he had not sold this bar previously I’m also reached out to heritage to see if they have a record of it but have not heard back and plan to go through there old records. My goal is to track it down to its origin, I’m convinced it’s Maravillas. I reached out to many big Instagram and YouTube collectors as well as AllenX the company currently working the Maravillas wreck and they actually got back to me and should be exchanging emails today.

How do you all go about fining old catalogs from auctions and such? I would love to poor through them and try and find the bar as well as a stamped 7.5 reales I own believed to be from Maravillas.

Mostly just wanted to share this fun and awesome journey I have been on with this incredible piece of history and would love any feedback on what I should do from here. AllenX getting in touch with me is a huge step forward, if I can match it to the manifest that would be really cool to me.

I’m an amateur and budget coin collector who focuses on Spanish Colonial coins. I have had some great experiences in the last couple years meeting amazing people who help keep the passion and history alive. My local coin shop knows I like shipwreck coins and one day they said they found a bar in the back the owner had purchased 20 years prior that was believed to be from a shipwreck. It’s a 56 pound bar with many stamps such as the one identifying the receiver ( N with s), tax stamps and purity indicator that’s almost impossible to decipher. It also has the stamp CXVI, I believe this is the serial number for the ship manifest. I believe the divots you see on the sides are from the tool they used to pull the bar out of the mold while it was still hot! Such an amazing piece of history. When I was roating it for photos and sand started poring out of a hole on the side and I’m not ashamed to admit I put it in a coin case and kept it haha

John at the Mel Fisher treasure store was able to help me track down another bar with the same N s stamp, it was from the Maravillas wreck. I reached out to Dan Sedwick and he had not sold this bar previously I’m also reached out to heritage but have not heard back and plan to go through there old records. My goal is to track it down to its origin before it goes on sale, I’m convinced it’s Maravillas but I have fun out of ways to find more leads. I reached out to many big Instagram and YouTube collectors as well as AllenX the company currently working the Maravillas wreck. How do you all go about fining old catalogs from auctions and such? I would love to poor through them and try and find the bar as well as a stamped 7.5 reales I own believed to be from Maravillas.

Most of just wanted to share this fun and awesome journey I have been on with this incredible piece of history and would love any feedback on what I should do from here, they are considering just putting it up at Sedwick but we all want to get the full history of it first.

First coin is a 7.5 Reales likely recovered from the Maravallias/ Capitania but has been separated from the paper work.

Second is a 2 reales from the Atocha, it’s its unique because far less low demonizations were found on board compared to 8 reales.

I got this chopmarked 4 Reales cob a couple years ago and it came with a slip that states it’s from a shipwreck and was recovered off the beach of Florida. Using KT Buddy’s book “Coins of the lost treasure galleons” I was able to narrow this down to the time of Philip V (pre 1724). The most obvious answer would be the 1715 fleet, however I have read that very few cobs from that wreck had chopmarks. Does anyone have any ideas or info that may corroborate this being from the 1715 fleet? Also I believe the chopmark is a Madura islands flower.