Gold Coins from Sunken Ship
I have been fascinated with gold coins for some time now, and being kid at heart, I imagine that the best ones are those retrieved from shipwrecks, probably raided by pirates and burned and sank bringing with it chests of gold coins to the bottom of the ocean.
Romantic, but of course, that is just one of the circumstances how gold coins could end up at the ocean floor, the more realistic would be that the ship sank because of some disaster at sea while transporting goods that might have included gold coins and some other equally valuable goodies.
I will not say that I am an authority when it comes to gold coins but I might find something that’s really worthy of note and that will definitely end up being posted in here.
One such noteworthy shipwreck carrying gold coins and other precious artifacts is the S.S. Republic which sank to the bottom of the Ocean in 1985 because of a hurricane and said to be containing $400,000 worth of gold coins and other valuable artifacts.
The said treasure in the said ship was supposed to aid some reconstruction after a civil war.
The expedition that was able to find the treasure said that finding the first gold coins to where they were predicted to be was educated but luck also had a lot to do with it. And to date more than 750 gold coins were already recovered and some 60% of them are Coronet 20 Dollar Double Eagles but gold coins are not the only treasure on the Republic as it also gives glimpse into history.
But of I’m not really that interested in history as much as I’m interested in gold coins but it doesn’t hurt to know a bit of it. It would actually be really interesting if this ship was sunk and raided by pirates like the Black Pearl’s crew or something, and if that was the case I would imagine that not a single gold coin would be left on that ship.
Another story of a ship sinking bringing gold coins with it is the Spanish Galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha which sank in 1622 in hurricane off the Florida Keys. Again, no pirates involved. And was discovered by a treasure hunter that goes by the name Mel Fisher. No pirates but at least there’s a treasure hunter in the mix. Won’t look like Indiana Jones I would have to guess but a treasure hunter nonetheless.
There are other ships that are left undiscovered carrying treasures and gold coins with them, and anyone who has the luck to fins it would definitely be a rich man. I don’t know the process of an actual treasure hunt but it probably is boring and won’t even be close to what can be seen in the movies, like an Indiana Jones flick.
But with the increasing sophistication and efficiency of modern machinery and technology, it is very possible that in a few years time, we could be looking forward to buying some sunken treasure gold coins, hunting would be too much of a hassle, so for someone like me I will just opt to buy them and add them to my collection.
More finds of these type of gold coins, I presume, would really be a boost to gold coins buying selling and collecting, and having a gold coin from a sunken ship would really make up for a good story for a show and tell.