Sedwick Auction...

[jeff k]

http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/41385/

http://www.sedwickcoins.com/treasureauction4_catalog.htm

I noticed there are coins and bars from the Golden Fleece wreck. Does anyone have an idea of the location of that wreck?

 

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[trikikiwi]

Jeff, northern Caribbean, so should be easy to find
http://www.sedwickcoins.com/shipwreck_histories/golden.htm

Mike

 

[signumops]

Jeff K:
I'd like to know that too. I have bought some coins from that wreck and all I can find out is some Canadians salvaged it and would not give up the location (good for them I guess, but, I would still like to know). I've also heard that the wreck is somewhere around the Commonwealth of Dominica.

 

[jeff k]

Jeff K:
I'd like to know that too. I have bought some coins from that wreck and all I can find out is some Canadians salvaged it and would not give up the location (good for them I guess, but, I would still like to know). I've also heard that the wreck is somewhere around the Commonwealth of Dominica.

Hmmm!

http://www.treasurelore.com/florida/dominica_treasure.htm

 

[signumops]

Looks good doesn't it...

My info came from the dealer who supposedly buys direct. Nothing solid though.

 

[jeff k]

In the mid 70's I got a phone call from Dennis Standefer. He was looking for investors for a project, but I didn't have any money to invest. I did suggest that he go to Dominica, and look for the 1567 fleet. He did go in the late 70's, and I never heard anything more. At the time I didn't know he was a scammer, and everybody that invested lost their money. He just disappeared into the sunset. In 2001, John Doering sent me an email and I found out he worked with Dennis in Dominica. I spoke to him on the phone, and he said they never found anything in Dominica. Here's an interesting email he sent me. I wonder if this could be the Golden Fleece wreck? I heard John passed away a few years ago.

Hi Jeff,

Here's a story I heard about Dominica back in 1979. This man (can't remember his name) contacted Dennis and wanted to tell him a story about a wreck off Dominica. He was in bad shape with heart trouble in a hospital in Miami. Dennis sent me up to see him and listen to his story. I got stopped when we heard that he took a turn for the worst. He went under the knife, cracking his chest to repair his heart. He was in bad shape when I finally did manage to talk to him. The story went like this: This man and a friend of his heard a story about a couple who were sailing around the Caribbean on vacation and anchored around a reef line near the South East coast of Dominica. While diving on the reef, this couple discovered a wreck, and managed to recover some artifacts. They then went to Barbados (I think) and thats where this man met this couple and heard the story.

This guy and his buddy went back to Dominica and found the wreck and proceeded to salvage, finding gold coins. Mind you, this was only a small operation. They didn't have a salvage contract and so were operating illegally. The two partners had some sort of argument and stopped their efforts. This fellow came to us because he heard we had the salvage contract for Dominica, and he wanted the wreck to get salvaged without his former partner.

When we got down to Dominica, we got very busy quickly, and never really got a chance to look for this wreck. Understand, we were looking for the 1567 fleet at the North Western end of the island and this wreck was at the South East. We never really went looking for this wreck. Looking back now, I wish we would have sent our smaller boat (60 footer) around to check out this story, but alas, we never did.

Well thats the story.

John

 

[signumops]

Jeff K:

If you look at the latest Sedwick Auction catalog (no. 4 I believe), some gold bars are featured as recovered from the Golden Fleece Wreck. They are on the cover and inside the catalog on pgs. 35 & 36. Meanwhile, the Charles and Juana coins from the wreck are also in the catalog and I have bought some in previous years. The coins themselves are pristine and I question them coming from submerged saltwater locations. On the other hand, the gold bars have organic growth and patina indicating they have, in fact, been found beneath the sea. If you go to the FUN show, you can eyeball the Golden Fleece Wreck coinage from several dealers and see what I mean. It's also pretty obvious in Dan's latest auction catalog.

If both the coins and the bars did actually come from the same wreck, it seems to me that some of the coins made it to shore and were hidden or buried there. Certainly was the case with some of the 1715 fleet destruction, and we are talking about silver oxides with one hundred sixty more years of accretion in the Golden Fleece Wreck venue. They are in remarkable condition for their age. Great coins! But, where's the beef!??

 

[SebastianSam]

I think "fleece" is the key word in the Golden Fleece wreck.

To date the finders of the wreck have not identified the wreck or disclosed its exact location, but they have gone on record stating it was in international waters in the northern Caribbean


International waters in the Caribbean....so they are using ROV's? Sounds like a big operation.

Funnily enough, they date the wreck to just a few years before the Padre Island wrecks....how convenient.

 

[jeff k]

In the descriptions of the cobs it says, From the "Golden Fleece wreck" Research Collection, but the descriptions of the gold bars do not say this. I think "Research Collection" is the key here. It may mean that the coins were purchased for research purposes, and are not shipwreck coins. Also, there was a Canadian company (VISA) working off Cuba in the 90's, so they could be the source.

 

[Salvor6]

Hey Sam, the Padre Island wrecks are from the 1554 fleet. Thats BEFORE the golden fleece.

 

[mad4wrecks]

In the wreck histories on the auction webpage, they list the Golden Fleece wreck as: “Golden Fleece wreck,” sunk ca. 1550 in the northern Caribbean.

ca. = circa, which means "around" That puts it right around the time of the Padre Island shipwrecks, which I think is the point sebastiansam was making. There is speculation that the wrecks off Texas are the real source of the artifacts.

 

[Asherr]

Hi Jeff, is there anywhere I can get more information on experiences and the finds in Dominica ?

 

[Darren in NC]

Unfortunately, Asherr, Jeff passed away a few years ago.

 

[Asherr]

Oh my. Thanks for the update Darren... my condolences to those that knew him.