Re: Jupiter Man & Son Find Treasure Dominick Addario
Thank you for posting this story!
It is pretty well written and factual except for one point:
I did not give Scot the coin. It is not mine to give. After identifying
it to be a 4 Reale Mexican - silver, {not gold} reale'
clearly documenting it as such - scanning it applying a unique inventory
to the piece I made the decision to allow Scot - an obviously upstanding
local businessman in the community to hold it in his custody until
such time as ownership of it is properly adjudicated by the Federal Courts
and the State of Florida as our two decade working relationship provides.
This specimen was definitely "ravaged by time and the sea" as it was found
by itself close to the shore break. I told Scot I believed we will be better off
not cleaning the coin as it may lose the remaining detail it currently has on
the shield side.
I did provide Scot a 4 reale Mexico specimen that has gone through proper
channels of adjudication and division with JWI so that he could give it to his son.
What is important here is this story shows the public interest evolving to work
to help preserve historic cultural resources and shows that the private and public sectors
can work together to help keep the age of discovery alive and the "average joe"
(although Scot and his son are not quite average joes) a part of the process!
