Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
2020 was a very interesting year for beach metal detecting finds on the Treasure Coast. Unusually early coins were found, along with some other items such as silver splash ingots and rings. More research on some of those items is needed.
Numerous 1715 Fleet reales were also found. What was most unusual about the 1715 Fleet beach finds is the quantity found at one time. 22 were found by Captain Martinez and his buddy during one hunt.
The sixteenth century coin finds were not nearly as numerous. In comparison, they are a real rarity on the Treasure Coast. But not only were sixteenth century coins found, but it appears that ingots and jewelry of that same early period were found as well.
The Juana and Carlos coins would seem to date to the 1500s, perhaps the mid-1500s, which of course is much earlier than the 1715 Fleet coins found on the Treasure Coast. In fact, Roger Craig's book, Spanish Colonial Silver Coins in the Florida Collection, does not show one example of such a coin in the Florida collection. (His book was copyrighted in 2000, so that might have changed.) Even 17th century examples in the Florida Collection are few, partly due to the Atocha and Margarita not being in Florida waters.
The Carlos and Juana coin that I have shown the most is the one found by Terry S., which, as far as I know, is the finest example of that type found in 2020.
A variety of Carlos and Juana coins have appeared in Sedwick auctions, but right off I don't know if Sedwick has offered any like that which were found on the Treasure Coast. They did offer in their most recent auction examples from the Fleece Wreck and from the 1554 wrecks near Padre Island.
Here is an example of a Charles and Joanna 2 reale from the Fleece Wreck.
https://issuu.com/sedwickcoins/docs/auction27_sedwick_catalog
And here is one from Padre Island.
It will be interesting to see if any of the silver splash ingots found in association with the coins can be determined to be from the same date range. One ingot appears to have only a partial marking, while another appears to be unmarked, so it will probably be difficult.
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More than 1,300 pieces of treasure were found in the UK during 2019 – the largest haul since records began – amid growing interest in metal detecting.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) annual report on treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland said there were more than 1,000 discoveries for a sixth year in a row.
The vast majority, 96%, were discovered by metal detecting. Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Essex and Hampshire were identified as hotspots for treasure with more than 80 pieces found in each county during 2019.
There are approximately 20,000 detectorists in England and Wales, and 348 of their discoveries were acquired by or donated to UK museums in 2019. Of the found treasure, 84% were “object cases”, meaning non-coin finds...
Here is the link for the rest of that article.
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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net