Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of he Treasure Beaches Report.
Gold chain, 30 grams, 30-1/2 inches, ex-1715 Fleet. A very tight braid in bent-wire links of high-grade gold (XRF tested at 21-1/2K), great length for a necklace but with ends unfinished as used for a "money chain" to avoid high taxes in its time, fully intact with just a few kinks, highly desirable as an original and officially certified gold object from the 1715 Fleet. From the Douglass Beach site of the 1715 Fleet, with Queens Jewels photo-certificate 75906.
Above is a gold chain and the lot description for a chain offered in the current Sedwick Treasure auction. The auction estimate is $7500 - $15,000.
Below is a smaller 1715 Fleet gold chain sold in the 1977 Bowers and Ruddy auction.
Since this chain is only 2/3 as large as the one in the current Sedwick auction, minimum auction estimate (being adjusted for the size difference) if this one were offered today would be around $5000 - all other things being equal. But of course, all other things are not equal. This smaller chain is complete and can be worn as a chain "as is" unlike the "money chain" in the current auction.
The chain sold in the 1977 Bowers and Ruddy auction sold for $2200. In today's money that would be over $10,000, which would put it within the current auction estimate range of $7300 - $15,000 for the chain that is being offered in the current auction.
Adjusting for size the values seem very comparable. Of course, we do not yet know what the final prices will be for the chain in the current auction. I'd expect it to go for the higher end or more than the auction estimate.
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Yesterday I showed a gold bar in the current Sedwick auction that is from the Atocha. It weighs just over five pounds. The auction estimate is $200,000 to $400,000. You can see that one in yesterday's post.
Forty-seven years ago a 1715 Fleet gold bar of very similar weight (barely over five pounds) was auctioned by Bowers and Ruddy. The realized price for that lot back then was $10.700. Below is how the bar was described in the Bowers and Ruddy catalog.
Tje bars are pretty similar but not exactly alike. One is from the 1715 Fleet while the other is ex- Atocha.
The Atocha bar already has a bid of $180,000, so it would seem that purchasing similar gold bar in 1977 was a great investment.
"Today's prices are 5.15 times as high as average prices since 1977, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index. A dollar today only buys 19.402% of what it could buy back then."If we adjust for inflation and multiply $10,700 times 5.15 we get just over $55,000. It seems like purchasing a similar gold bar 47 years ago was a good investment.
Gold, of course, is very high now, which undoubtedly increases to some considerable extent the value of gold artifacts.
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Here is another lot from the current Sedwick auction. This silver "cupcake" ingot that weighs real close to 1.5 pounds has an auction estimate of $2000 to $3000.
There were two similar but larger muffin ingots (each about a half pound heavier) from the Atocha auctioned in the 1977 Bowers and Ruddy auction. They brought winning bids of $160 and $170 in 1977 dollars.
Although I tried to look at some factors affecting the value of shipwreck artifacts over time, that is a difficult thing to do for such unique items. People sometimes talk about such things in terms of investments, but it is very difficult to get a precise return on investment. I suspect that such items should be purchased because you like them, but from my crude analysis they do seem to hold good value over time.
One good thing about metal detecting as a hobby is the cost of finds is not too important although your investment in time and equipment can be substantial. If you enjoy what you are doing and get good entertainment value out of the activity, any economic value of finds is all to the good.
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Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net
