Page 9 - Treasure, World & U.S. Coin Auction 17

Treasure, World & u.s. Coin AuCtion #17

Live on the Internet, Wednesday-Thursday, April 29-30, 2015

Three hundred years ago this summer, on a long stretch of Atlantic-coast beach here in Florida, a combined
fleet of Spanish ships loaded with treasure succumbed to cyclonic disaster and unwittingly created an industry for us
today in the form of sunken treasure. The 1715 Fleet Society was formed both to commemorate this tragedy and to
honor its memory by celebrating the recovery and preservation of its treasure yields from the past several decades. You
will see evidence throughout this catalog of 1715-Fleet treasure and, if you bid high enough, you can make your own
mark on history by owning some of these spoils.
This anniversary of the 1715 Fleet disaster has brought some VERY interesting items out of the woodwork,
most of which have never been auctioned before, with old pedigrees to the Real Eight Company and other famous sal-
vagers like Mel Fisher, whose followers know that this year also marks the 30 anniversary of the finding of the Atocha
th
“mother lode” in 1985.
The most valuable treasures here are big gold ingots—some in excess of two kilos each and over 11 kilos total,
most starting at around their melt values. That represents a unique opportunity for anyone who recognizes the value of
historic gold versus modern dollars. Like coins, each Spanish shipwreck gold bar has markings that identify its history,
and the ones we offer here are some of the best-marked bars we have ever seen.
In terms of coins, we present over 40 gold cobs from the 1715 Fleet, including the finest known Lima 8 escudos
1711M and many others in certified Mint State grade. The shipwreck gold coins spill into non-cobs as well, including
an extremely rare Indian são tome from the Santiago wreck (1585), Chilean bust-type 8 escudos from the Luz (1752)
and Brazilian 6400 reis from the “Clive of India treasure” (ca. 1755), as well as some U.S. gold coins from the “Fort
Capron treasure” (1857). In U.S. silver coins we feature some classic keys in certified grades, like the 1916 Standing
Liberty quarter, the 1916 Mercury dime, the 1937-D “three-legged” Buffalo nickel and the 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent.
In addition to larger-than-ever sections of silver cobs from the Atocha and 1715 Fleet, we feature a huge clump
of ancient Roman provincial coins from a Mediterranean wreck; many lots of 1652 transitional 8 reales from the Capi-
tana (1654); and Tom Sebring’s famous 8 reales from the Whydah (1717).
In non-wreck cobs we feature eight examples of Royals in several denominations from the three main mints
(Mexico, Lima and Potosí), plus a new, unpublished specimen of the Lima Rincón 8 reales (first “dollar” of South
America). The Potosí cob section is so jam-packed with 8 reales that we present for the first time our “Table of Potosí 8
Reales of Philip II” for deciphering all those coins of assayers R, M, L and B. Three Panama cobs round out the trophies
in silver cobs.
In World Silver Coins we feature significant collections of early Argentinian and Colombian colonial minors,
two original coin dies (from Bolivia and Chile) and a nice selection of British coins of the VIGO, LIMA and counter-
marked issues.
Finally, in the ever-popular artifacts sections we feature a Spanish cannon dated 1766 and many cannonballs;
several choice (intact) specimens of Chinese porcelain from shipwrecks; and some impressive pieces of Spanish ship-
wreck gold jewelry, including a complete gold-and-coral rosary from the 1715 Fleet.
As always, we have worked around the clock to make this an auction to remember, filled with the best mate-
rial available at agreeable starting prices, this time with the added attraction of the 1715-Fleet anniversary to generate
awareness and excitement. The year 2015 will go down in history as the year of treasure!

The Daniel Frank Sedwick, LLC production team:
Daniel Sedwick Agustín (Augi) García-Barneche Cori Sedwick Downing Michelle B. Heidt

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