🥇 BANNER 1732 8 reale pillar dollar from the 1733 fleet !!

[Blak bart]

This piece was stuck to some rusted iron conglomerate but rang in at 31 on the nox. I was blown away when I saw the date of 1732 !! The absolute holy grail of milled 8 reales....the very first ones 1732 !! Very very very hard to come by. I've been trying to find one of these for a long time and searching for them is one of my favorite past times.....if you look at my avatar you'll see a mint condition 1733 pillar dollar....another very rare and desirable year for these coins !! These coins were salvaged from the wrecks of the 1733 plate fleet disaster here in the keys. They were brought ashore to the survivor camps in the spanish salvage effort. This one was in about knee deep water with other olive jar shards rusted iron and even some shipwreck wood !! I'm going slow with 10 foil boiling water and baking soda. Sadly this coin is badly beaten but surprisingly theres enough detail to see the date.....Unbelievable !!
It started about 3 weeks ago with a cobb 8 that I got in a large clump of spikes and other rusted conglomerate the coin was in super rough condition and I had no idea it was in side this clump until I broke it apart a few days later. I had no machine at the time and it was pure luck.....but I swore to go back as soon as I got the Eqx back from warranty !! Man did this spot not disappoint !! Olive jar shards iron conglomerate and even some small ballast stone !!
All the stuff in this pic came from the last few hunts.... the spanish stuff comes from one spot and the rest comes from a beach side wreckers camp from the mid 1800 -1920. I love seeing the sail grommets.....when I find them in large numbers it usually means a survivors camp from some wreck or another !! Check out this killer buckle I found yesterday too....its cloisonne and might have been a double buckle....not sure of age on that but I love it.....any other time that would have been my find of the day !!
Heres some shipwreck wood and a beautiful piece of pottery with a whole island scene on it
I cant believe I got a 1732 pillar dollar.....never thought I'd scratch it off the bucket list !!
Good luck and happy hunting folks !!! WOOOO HOOO !!

http://www.keyshistory.org/IK-1733-wreck.html

 

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[ARC]

Check it out ARC.....that stain is almost gone. Shes tore up but got alot of character !! View attachment 1841913
View attachment 1841917

Yep... character.

 

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[ARC]

Hey... those pits are really tooth marks in it... where a pirate bit it to see if it was real silver.

:P

 

[Blak bart]

Yes BANNER! Those are wonderful finds. (And I thought I had a good find in a 1942 Coke bottle found while lobstering!) Keep going Blak Bart. We are living large through your finds right now.

Florida son...thank you very much !! Gotta luv the water down here right now....man it's beautiful !! Saw at least 4 big lobsters under the dock today !! Almost time to go get um again !! Happy hunting out there !!

 

[Blak bart]

Awesome recovery Bart! I'll vote banner for sure! Congrats!

Thank you crusty....time to get in the water and hunt !! I'm fired up now !! Wooo hooo!!

 

[Blak bart]

Wow! What a treasure hunt you are on! It would be hard to pull me away from that spot. Great job and big congratulations. Keep sharing please.

Tnmountains thank you very much....that actually represents 2 spots and I'll be bouncing around the keys like a ping pong ball this summer....I'll be teaming up with some fellow t-netters starting this week I hope....theres alot to look at. Check out this old ships spike showing in the rootball of a tree overturned by Irma!!
This stuff gets me fired up, and is exactly what I'm looking for as signs !! if you look close you can even see it in the shot with the eqx.

 

[Blak bart]

Hey... those pits are really tooth marks in it... where a pirate bit it to see if it was real silver.

:P

Ya that's not the most flattering pic either....in order to get that deep stain out I had to take it all the way to white metal.....this coin will get better looking as she repatinas. This one is treasure and belongs in a gold bezel...not a plastic slab !! It's for treasure collectors and has the provenance !! The coin collectors would just scoff at the condition !! It's a pirates pirate coin...arrrggghh !!

 

[KEYSHUNTER]

 

[Blak bart]

View attachment 1842136

I know that one keyshunter....that's the one that was copied from a melfisher piece !! It pops up when you google them....

 

[Blak bart]

I wish the 1732 was as nice as my 1733. Found the 33 well above the tide line high and dry. The 32 was in knee to waist deep water and it shows. Shes lost some weight !!

 

[sphillips]

Steve that's another big factor....I love those ugly rocky shore lines. I tend to avoid the deep sand and grass beds and hunt over shallow sand and rock with fans and soft corals....at least I can recover something in this bottom quickly without having to dig 2 feet for deep beer cans. Recovery times are quicker and I can cover more bottom. So I'm religous with the sat imaging....always searching for changing bottom conditions. When the bottom changes over a couple months and we go from deep sand and grass to the scrubby hard pan bottom I'm all over it. The sand shifts seasonally and can cover good spots in a short time with 2-3 feet of new sand just as quick as it uncovers. I need a storm...just not a cat 4 + !! Steve I want to come up and sift for the emeralds soon. I'll PM you when I come up !!

Will look forward to it

 

[sphillips]

View attachment 1842140 I wish the 1732 was as nice as my 1733. Found the 33 well above the tide line high and dry. The 32 was in knee to waist deep water and it shows. Shes lost some weight !!

The shape of the coins give an idea as to how they were making in 1732 as a contrast to the 1715 fleet coins

 

[Blak bart]

The shape of the coins give an idea as to how they were making in 1732 as a contrast to the 1715 fleet coins

Steve that's the whole appeal of these early screw press coins....1732 was a transitional year for spanish new world coinage. They were phasing out the cobb coins in favor of round coins made on a screw press. The one coin I need to complete the 1732 collection is the klippe coin which is a cross between a cobb and a pillar dollar. so the rarity of the 1732 pillars comes from the fact that all of them went down with the 1733 fleet here in the keys. The pillar dollars that were salvaged from the waters of the keys were melted down by the king and the silver was given to the church so the king could atone for his sins.....the king demanded that the fleet wait until his beautiful new screw pressed coins were done and loaded onto the returning galleons. This delay led directly to the fleet leaving late into the hurricane season. So the kings own greed and vanity led to the destruction of the entire fleet. So to atone for the deaths of many people he had the pillars melted and gave that silver as an offering of atonement to the catholic church. That's why there are so few 1732 pillar dollars left for collectors. Remember steve....this is the same king that also lost the 1715 fleet !! When I look at his image on the gold bust 8 escudo coin....he looks mad and is frowning. I tell people that if you lost 2 entire fleets of treasure you would be frowning too !! I love the fact that almost 300 years later pirates like me are still getting Felipe the Vs treasure !! Tonight when I have a rum drink I'll toast king felipe the fifth !!

 

[TheHorticulturist]

CONGRATS!! That's really an incredible find!

 

[WannaDig3687]

Bart, I’m so sorry I have taken so long to post here. A huge congratulations! That’s real treasure! I learn sooo much through your finds! My goodness! Banner! Yes! Yes!

 

[Crusty Shellback]

Thanks for the history lesson, very interesting!

 

[sphillips]

Steve that's the whole appeal of these early screw press coins....1732 was a transitional year for spanish new world coinage. They were phasing out the cobb coins in favor of round coins made on a screw press. The one coin I need to complete the 1732 collection is the klippe coin which is a cross between a cobb and a pillar dollar. View attachment 1842224 so the rarity of the 1732 pillars comes from the fact that all of them went down with the 1733 fleet here in the keys. The pillar dollars that were salvaged from the waters of the keys were melted down by the king and the silver was given to the church so the king could atone for his sins.....the king demanded that the fleet wait until his beautiful new screw pressed coins were done and loaded onto the returning galleons. This delay led directly to the fleet leaving late into the hurricane season. So the kings own greed and vanity led to the destruction of the entire fleet. So to atone for the deaths of many people he had the pillars melted and gave that silver as an offering of atonement to the catholic church. That's why there are so few 1732 pillar dollars left for collectors. Remember steve....this is the same king that also lost the 1715 fleet !! When I look at his image on the gold bust 8 escudo coin....he looks mad and is frowning. I tell people that if you lost 2 entire fleets of treasure you would be frowning too !! I love the fact that almost 300 years later pirates like me are still getting Felipe the Vs treasure !! Tonight when I have a rum drink I'll toast king felipe the fifth !!

Thx for the history!

 

[Blak bart]

CONGRATS!! That's really an incredible find!

Thank you my friend....I hope to meet up sometime this week !!

 

[Blak bart]

Bart, I’m so sorry I have taken so long to post here. A huge congratulations! That’s real treasure! I learn sooo much through your finds! My goodness! Banner! Yes! Yes!

Thank you WD...congrats on some great finds you've made this week too !!

 

[Blak bart]

Thanks for the history lesson, very interesting!

It makes for great reading.....this history is fascinating.....I'm gonna try and access the original documents and letters that were sent to Art McKee. They should be in drawer 6 at the islamorada library. Every one was interested in the wreck locations.....I'm looking for any specifics regarding the salvage ops and survivor camps. I've yet to hunt an unknown camp from the "capitana" and "el infante". Seems the location of the landing spot of these survivors was unknown. Not any more....I tracked this one down from local tales and stories of coin and treasure finds. 3 rafts of 60 -70 people at a time landed at separate spots along the coast all within a mile of each other. These survivors struggled ashore dropping treasure as they lightened there loads in an attempt to save themselves. I believe the best and most expensive treasures would have been carried by these elite passengers in an attempt to save there fortunes. Many of these treasures would have been abandoned in an effort to survive and make it to shore. Here it still lies waiting for someone to figure out where it might be !!

 

[releventchair]

Congrats Bart!
You have again , earned your luck through research , followed by work...


Banner all the way. Which must pale with being there smelling the scene! Let alone touching it.