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Florida men find 22 silver coins from 1715 shipwreck

1630Boston1630Boston Posts: 13,781 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited May 18, 2020 10:15AM in Metal Detecting

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They Were Searching the Sand. The Metal Detectors Went Crazy
Florida men find 22 silver coins from 1715 shipwreck, could be worth $7K

By Arden Dier, Newser Staff
Posted Mar 3, 2020 11:00 AM CST

Jonah Martinez holds a Spanish silver coin he found off the Florida coast on July 17, 2015. (Sam Wolf/The Press Journal via AP)
(NEWSER) – They set to work with metal detectors on Florida's appropriately named Treasure Coast and are now the proud owners of 22 silver coins thought to be 300 years old. Jonah Martinez, who's been hunting treasure in South Florida for 24 years, says he and fellow treasure hunter Cole Smith were combing the sand at Wabasso Beach on Feb. 21 when their metal detectors began signaling one find after another, per WPEC and WPTV. When the dust was settled, they had 22 hammer-struck silver coins, believed to have been lost aboard one of 11 Spanish ships sunk by a hurricane while heading home from a trade voyage to Cuba in 1715. It's this disaster that gives the Treasure Coast its name.

The coins could be worth up to $7,000, per TCPalm.com, but that's mostly a footnote to Martinez, who has no plans to sell. "We are not trying to profit out here. We are just collecting pieces of history," the 43-year-old tells WPEC. "That's cool if you ask me." Indeed, Martinez says his career treasure finds—including daggers, belt buckles, and rings—add up to $13 million in value, with a single haul of gold coins estimated at $6.5 million, per TCPalm. "We love to be the guys who find treasure[s] that were lost at sea more than 300 years ago," Martinez tells WPEC. The silver coins will be added to his collection, housed in "a safe spot," to await the next discovery, per TCPalm. Hoping to get in on the action? You'll need a permit to look for treasure on state land, but not on a public beach.

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Comments

  • johnny9434johnny9434 Posts: 28,330 ✭✭✭✭✭

    A nice find. I hope the Spanish govt. Does not come over wanting it back

  • Timbuk3Timbuk3 Posts: 11,658 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wow, amazing !!! :)

    Timbuk3
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wow!! Real treasure from sunken ships... How cool, the dream of MD'rs everywhere...And if those are examples of beach finds, imagine how much more is in deep water....Cheers, RickO

  • Namvet69Namvet69 Posts: 8,972 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I'd like to see them after conservation. Peace Roy

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  • JimnightJimnight Posts: 10,846 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I love these finds.

  • johnny9434johnny9434 Posts: 28,330 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I hope they find plenty more as well

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