More Treasure from the DR in the News

[Global Marine Exploration]

I know a few of the details of this wreck have been previously posted, but here is the official press release regarding the excavation and artifacts:

TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 12, 2013: Divers find unexpected treasures among coins in shipwreck off Dominican Republic - Press Releases - MiamiHerald.com

Divers find unexpected treasures among coins in shipwreck off Dominican Republic

TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 12, 2013 -- /PRNewswire/ -- A Florida based treasure hunting firm has discovered a 450-year-old ship that wrecked off the Dominican coast. Among its valuable cargo -- the single largest cache of 16th century pewter tableware ever discovered. The ship was also carrying extremely rare Spanish silver coins from the late 1400's through the mid 1500's and several gold artifacts. This unprecedented find of 16th century pewter will re-write history books, as many of the maker's marks stamped into the fine pewter have never been seen before. While the value of the gold and silver recovered is easily determined, surprisingly, experts place the value of this four and a half century old pewter collection into the millions. The collection includes plates, platters, porringers, salts and flagons in an array of sizes and styles.

Divers from Anchor Research and Salvage (a Global Marine Exploration, Inc. company) working with the Punta Cana Foundation painstakingly excavated the wreck site under contract with the Underwater Cultural Heritage division of the Dominican Minister of Culture.



Anchor Research and Salvage has recently completed survey operations on their southwestern coastal lease area off the Dominican Republic, revealing numerous previously undiscovered shipwrecks. Noted shipwreck archaeologist and author Sir Robert F. Marx estimates that there is several billion dollars of submerged treasures in the southern coastal area alone, and ten times that amount waiting in Global Marine Exploration's future target areas. Investigation and recovery operations in the Dominican Republic continue.

CEO Robert Pritchett said, "Sample artifacts from these newly discovered wreck sites indicate that we may have found an entire fleet of early Galleons that wrecked on their way back to Spain carrying the riches of the new world." Pritchett also mentions that negotiations are well underway for GME and its companies to provide artifact rescue and excavation services in other countries as well. "GME's unique business model opens up a new age for cost-effective and archaeologically sensitive shipwreck exploration. Other countries are seeing how well we document and record the archaeological evidence in the Dominican Republic, and we are in talks with many nations in the Caribbean and beyond," said Pritchett.

More info available at Global Marine Exploration, Inc. Home of GME, Anchor Research & Salvage, Global Antiquities Registry, and Aqua Pulse USA - Part 1

Contact Robert H. Pritchett - [email protected]

Read more here: TAMPA, Fla., Sept. 12, 2013: Divers find unexpected treasures among coins in shipwreck off Dominican Republic - Press Releases - MiamiHerald.com

 

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[old man]

Bobby, Nice find. I enjoyed going through your building in Tampa. My Guys were also impressed with your Operation. Great Finds.

 

[dennco2000]

Thanks for posting, keeps amateurs like me in hopes of hitting that big score one day too.
Keep up the good work and happy hunting.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

I was just discussing with my wife where we sould go for our next vacation. Perhaps the DR
ZDD

 

[Southern_Digger]

Are some of these artifacts on display in DR or Tampa? As ZD wrote, would make a nice vacation to include a look-see expedition in the venue.

 

[Global Marine Exploration]

The Punta Cana Foundation is building a three million dollar museum to house a portion of the artifacts from the Punta Cana Pewter Wreck. Word is that the government in the DR is doing some reorganization and remodeling of some of their museums. The Museo de Atarazanas in Santo Domingo is one of the most amazing shipwreck museums in the world, we are hoping it is back open soon, with many of our artifacts on display along side items from other shipwreck projects from the country.

We do have some things on display in our Tampa headquarters, and are constantly improving them as time allows. Our conservation lab always has something interesting going on too, and we generally have a large collection of artifacts in our secure storage facility that can be viewed by appointment. If anyone will be in the area, just let us know and we will try to schedule a time for a tour. For obvious reasons this is not always possible, but many here have seen our operations, as have most of our investors. Call (813) 684-9347 if you are or will be in the area.

Here are a few pictures of the lab and part of the display area to give you an idea.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

The Punta Cana Foundation is building a three million dollar museum to house a portion of the artifacts from the Punta Cana Pewter Wreck. Word is that the government in the DR is doing some reorganization and remodeling of some of their museums. The Museo de Atarazanas in Santo Domingo is one of the most amazing shipwreck museums in the world, we are hoping it is back open soon, with many of our artifacts on display along side items from other shipwreck projects from the country.

We do have some things on display in our Tampa headquarters, and are constantly improving them as time allows. Our conservation lab always has something interesting going on too, and we generally have a large collection of artifacts in our secure storage facility that can be viewed by appointment. If anyone will be in the area, just let us know and we will try to schedule a time for a tour. For obvious reasons this is not always possible, but many here have seen our operations, as have most of our investors. Call (813) 684-9347 if you are or will be in the area.

Here are a few pictures of the lab and part of the display area to give you an idea.

View attachment 863183 View attachment 863182 View attachment 863184

That sinches it, Punta Cana in Feb and Tampa in April. I wish everyone a GME all the best and I hope you find what you are all looking for,
ZDD

 

[Global Marine Exploration]

Dave,

You and your crew are welcome here in Tampa anytime, congrats on your recent finds! Punta Cana makes a very nice vacation but I think it will be some time before the museum is open there, just didn't want you to go there expecting a shipwreck museum and be disappointed. Anytime you swing through Tampa let us know, we'll tour the lab and then head down to Venice for some shark tooth diving. :-)

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Dave,

You and your crew are welcome here in Tampa anytime, congrats on your recent finds! Punta Cana makes a very nice vacation but I think it will be some time before the museum is open there, just didn't want you to go there expecting a shipwreck museum and be disappointed. Anytime you swing through Tampa let us know, we'll tour the lab and then head down to Venice for some shark tooth diving. :-)

Sounds like an excellent plan.
Dave

 

[dennco2000]

Water vis is poor right now for toothin. Im going out a little deeper right now working a couple sites to the south and its about 6ft vis at 30ft deep. Clears up fast soon as the rains start to let up.

 

[G.I.B.]

Impressive.

Congratulations on a fine job.

 

[ScubaFinder]

Some of our extremely rare Santo Domingo mint coins are going up for auction in a few weeks, Daniel Frank Sedwick had this to say:

[h=1]Auction #14: Featuring Santo Domingo Cobs recovered by GME[/h]Our Treasure Auction #14 will be an historical event for collectors of Santo Domingo silver coins of Charles and Joanna (1542-1552). Featured in this auction are ten such coins, the largest single offering of Santo Domingo Charles and Joanna silver coins of all time, surpassing the famous Ray Byrne sale (Jess Peters) of 1975, which presented nine specimens, one of which (the infamous 10 reales) is largely regarded as a counterfeit. All ten coins in our upcoming auction, taking place on October 30, come from the same shipwreck, known as the “Pewter Wreck” of the mid-1500s, sunk off Punta Cana, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).

Everyone here at GME is very excited about this auction, the coins are only a small part of what we have available in this sale. Here's a link to the full story:

https://www.facebook.com/sedwick.co...65243532553.1073741834.100001172487231&type=1

 

[GatorBoy]

Impressive is an understatement.
Thank you for sharing that.

 

[ScubaFinder]

Global Marine Exploration, Inc.'s Chief Operations Officer Bill G. Seliger and our team of highly trained Dominican divers found another shipwreck trail over the weekend, check out these nice olive jars! More great stuff to come as soon as we can release it......

 

[GatorBoy]

Super! They look flawless.
Guessing 1700's

 

[GatorBoy]

Dubbled post.
Oops

 

[wrecker]

Impressive finds! Can't wait to see and read more news about these projects. Used to live in Punta Cana for 8 years and did about 4000 dives in that area (beach behind the divers in pic #2 doesn't look exactly familiar though). Hope to visit the museum some day.

 

[ScubaFinder]

The area in the new pics is not Punta Cana, we found and excavated several wrecks off Punta Cana but the new pics are from our larger lease area on the south coast. I probably should have started a new thread, I will when I get authorization to post some of the other great finds from the last few days.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Man I love those Olive Jars, the one in the middle pic looks familiar. One of my buddies found one just like it a couple of years ago while we were bottle diving.
ZDD

 

[GatorBoy]

That is definitely sweet.
I never found one unbroken.
Found a huge top section several years ago.