Shipwreck Coins

Woodwind

I noticed that in the last couple of years there have been several significant numbers of “shipwreck” gold coins discovered and sold at auctions. This got me curious as to the whole process.

First off, is there a spike in these discoveries in the last couple of years or have there always been significant discoveries of gold coins brought out of the sea and into the hands of collectors? If there is a spike in these discoveries, why? Better underwater technology? The US Government allowing salvage companies to keep more of the “profits”?

I seem to remember that during the mid to late 1980s the US Government tried to claim that 100% of all discovered shipwreck artifacts located within a certain number of miles of US coastline would be government property. Even then as a teenager I felt this was ridiculous and would kill any incentive of any private diving company to go down and retrieve any artifacts.

Also, take me through the entire process, from the operations at sea, to the salvage companies, to the red tape of the US Government, to the auction house or dealers, to the grading services, to the auctions and into collectors’ hands. I’m mainly interested in knowing how much the divers or diving and salvage companies get to keep and what the laws are regarding these salvage operations.

jeffnpcb

State of Florida is the worse for these endeavors. They seem to shove historical reclamation above all other aspects and want a large share of the gain, if any. This last one is in international waters and no claim by the US or any state is in jeopardy. Yet, they are still working with historical reclamation as well as the coin recovery. This is the way it should be. Let the discoverers work with states and the feds, but no claim from government bodies should be made against them.

Conder101

I'm not aware of the US government ever trying to claim 100% unless the find was inside a government owned refuge. The State of Florida on the other hand did try to pull something like that. When Mel Fisher was searching for the Atocha he had an agreement for 25% of his finds to belong to the state. But when he found the first ship, I don't remember the name, the State of Florida tried to claim 100% of the recovered treasure. Fisher fought them for years before he finally won. Fortunately that was before he found the Atocha and the suit gave him the strength of a precedent that kept Florida from trying again.

MrEureka

Better underwater technology?

Exactly.

CalGold

Under a federal law enacted during the late 1990's any ship wreck having historical significance and embedded in the sea floor within the territorial limit belongs to the state, not the federal government. That means that the salvage companies have to negotiate with the state for salvage rights--meaning the state gets a large cut of the proceeds. In the case of the SS Republic, it sank outside the territorial limit so the state has no claim.

In addition to the states, the salvage companies have to deal with insurance companies that paid claims on the ship's cargo. The insurance companies retain their rights of subrogation on the claims paid--meaning they own the cargo they paid claims on. This happened in the SS Central America salvage and was litigated in federal court. The court held that the insurance companies never lost or abandoned their rights--the fact that they never lifted a finger to search for the wreck for 135 years was explained away as not being technologically feasible, and the fact that some did not even have their original records to verify their claims (they relied on old newspaper reports and similar evidence) was explained away by the legal fiction that they had merely "mislaid" those old files rather than having discarded them as part of the abandonment of their claims. In some cases the insurance companies had even dissolved, and their claims were enforced by the states under which they were organized. So the salvage company had to share the proceeds with a number of insurance companies and states.

Makes it kind of expensive to undertake one of these treasure hunts doesn't it.

CG

Pistareen

The Thomas Sebring Collection of Shipwreck Coins will be going up for bids at FUN. Sebring is a well-known author and researcher and his collection includes pieces from over 120 different wrecks. You can see the catalogue online at the ANR (American Numismatic Rarities) website.

There are over 140 lots, beginning with lot 1542 here.