Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
 |
| Same Four Reale |
 |
| Coin To Be Auctioned By Public Lands For The People. Photos by Jerry S. |
A few days ago I mentioned that Public Lands for the People, an organization that works to preserve outdoor recreational activities such as prospecting and mining on public lands, was going to auction a treasure coin.
The coin had been donated to the organization.
Here are two photos of that coin, which is nicely mounted in a gold bezel.
It is a 4 reale from the Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion.
Its always nice to see a good treasure coin.
I like having them displayed in this manner rather than being stored away unseen somewhere.
It also comes with the certificate of authenticity shown below signed by Burt Webber.
You might know the story of the Concepcion and Burt Webber. Here is a little of that story as printed in the Ocala Star-Banner in 1979.
Click here if you want to read the entire newspaper article.
Here is a short history on the wreck of the Concepcion as presented on the Sedwickcoins.com web site.
Concepcion sunk in 1641 off the northeast coast of Hispaniola
The Concepcion 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 almirata of a 21-ship fleet, the Concepcion was already in poor repair when the Europe-bound fleet encountered a storm in September, 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 to the 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 loss of around 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 Concepcion was found again in 1978 by Burt Webber, Jr., whose divers recovered some 60,000 silver cobs, mostly Mexican 8 and 4 reales but also some Potosi and rare Colombian cobs (including more from the Cartagena mint than had been found on any other shipwreck). Unlike the Maravillas of just 15 years later, however, the Concepcion did not give up 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 Concepcion were heavily promoted, even in department stores! The site is still being worked from time to time with limited success.
---
Here is an interesting item shown online shown at http://www.nelsonshipwreckpirate.com/NauticalAntiquities.html
It says it was found in a Spanish salvor's camp in southern Brevard County.
----
The next day or two on the Treasure Coast we'll have something like a two to four foot surf. Just a touch higher later in the week.
Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net
