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Sunday, May 11, 2025

5/12/25 Report - Treasure Coast 1715 Fleet Silver Shaker Box Find Sold, Coin Collection Stolen. No Change in Surf.

 Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.


If you followed the recently concluded Sedwick treasure auction, you possibly noticed an ornate silver shaker box that looks like the one above.

The one shown above was found in 2014 by Johan Martinez and the crew of the Capitana.  I showed the find as found in a 2014 Treasure Beaches Report.post.  See The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 6/14/14 Report - Just In! Great Treasure Coast Treasure Finds by Capitana Crew, Price of Gold Increases and Site of the Mary Rose  

Being in great condition when found, the box was found near shore with several other very nice finds, including a bell, platter and olive jar rim.  You can see those in the 2014 post by using the link above.

Below is the box as it appears in the suction lot description after cleaning and conservation.

Silver Shaker Box as Shown in the Recently
Concluded Sedwick Treasure Auction # 37

It looks like the same box to me.  I think it must be.  It looks like it and how many of those could there be

Below is the lot description for silver box as listed the recently concluded Sedwick auction 37,

Ornate silver shaker (pounce box), ex-1715 Fleet. 313 grams. 2¾" cube. A very rare silver relic that is as beautiful and functional as the day it was made, with intact and unblemished lateral embossed designs and finely engraved details in the lid (separate), just a tiny corner-chip in the lid and verdigris in one corner of the undecorated inside of the box, the lid designed with eighteen small holes in a floral pattern in a concave circle on the top for sprinkling a fine powder (pounce) over fresh manuscripts to prevent the ink from bleeding and smearing, truly one of the finest silver artifacts recovered from any Spanish wreck but particularly from the 1715 Fleet. From the 1715 Fleet, with Queens Jewels LLC photo-certificate F040818 (tag 77225) and thirteen-page dissertation about its design and conservation.  (Source: Ornate silver shaker (pounce box), ex-1715 Fleet. - Sedwick & Associates, LLC)

The estimated auction price was $7.500 to $15.000.  I didn't look up the selling price yet.

Often when items are sold, not all the information is passed along with the item.  It is nice that a thirteen page dissertation goes with the item.  I'm surprised that the box wasn't selected by the State of Florida.

If this is the same box found in 2014, it took about a decade before the artifact hit the auction block.  

To some people artifacts are valuable mostly because of what they tell us about the past.  Some people look at them economically as sources of income or investments. For the treasure hunter they can be both of those things, but there is something else for the searcher - the item is a bit of the story of their life and lived experience.   For some, that transcends the other stuff, but the memories and lessons learned don't go away when the item is passed on - hopefully to a person or institution that not only appreciates the item but shares it, in one way or another, with the world.

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A former head housekeeper at the historic Plains Hotel in downtown Cheyenne, Wyoming, is at the center of a theft case involving nearly $26,000 worth of coins. Rene Maria Manzanares, 46, has entered an Alford plea to one count of felony theft, acknowledging that the prosecution has sufficient evidence for a conviction while not admitting guilt. ​

The incident traces back to an elderly couple who lost their cabin home in a massive canyon mudslide in 2022. Hotel owner Astrid, the couple's neighbor, offered them free accommodation at the Plains Hotel. "I said you can live at the Plains Hotel for free," Astrid told Cowboy State Daily. The couple stored a box containing their coin collection in their room during their stay. "They put what they had… in a box and left it when they moved from a smaller room into a larger room," Astrid indicated. ​

According to an evidentiary affidavit, Manzanares claimed she found the box under a bed during cleaning and placed it in the hotel's lost and found, where it remained for two years. She later gave the coins to an associate, Candace Miller, who, along with Martha Salazar, sold them to a local coin dealer. Miller provided Manzanares with $500 in return.

Here is that link..



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Palm  Beach County under flood watch starting Monday morning.


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Source: Surfguru.com.


Sunday was a little windy, but no big surf for another week.

Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net




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