Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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From Sedwick & Associates...
Sedwick & Associates will be accepting consignments throughout the month of February. The consignment deadline for Auction 39 is March 10.
Meetings are available by appointment at our office in Maitland, Florida, approximately 30 minutes from Orlando International Airport. We will also be available during the Puerto Rico Coin Show in San Juan, Puerto Rico, February 18 to 21, registration required, and at the ANA National Money Show in Savannah, Georgia, February 26 to 28, Booth 111.
In early March, we will be meeting clients in South Florida and will then travel to London and Munich.
Auction 39 will be held live and in person May 6 to 9, 2026, at the SpringHill Suites by Marriott Winter Park, Florida. The sale will include colonial coinage, cob coins, paper money, artifacts, medals, ancients, and related historical material from the entire world.
A small boutique bourse with a limited number of established dealers will be held on May 6, the day prior to the auction, together with a dedicated section for lot viewing. We believe this added opportunity for direct interaction in advance of the sale will benefit both dealers and collectors.
Hotel reservations for the May auction are available at the following link:
Book your group rate for Sedwick & Associates Auction #39
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One reader recently brought up a topic that I addressed a few times over the past decade or more, but for me it is still something of a mystery. It comes down to this: many silver rings are found by detectorists on the wreck beaches that appear by all accounts to be from the wrecks, but the top treasure salvage guy of the Treasure Coast once said that there has never been a silver ring found on a 1715 Fleet wreck. That fellow worked the 1715 Fleet wrecks longer than anyone else, so there is really no better authority on the subject. It leaves me wondering how to account for the apparent discrepancy.
I checked the Mel Fisher artifact database and searched for silver rings. I found no silver rings in the database. That supports the idea that if there are any at all, they are rare.
The next source that I checked was Deagan's book, Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, `1500 - 1800. That book describes Spanish Colonial artifacts found on both land archaeological sites and under water. Thousands of finger rings are documented. Many are non-metallic. Many are made of jet and many others are non-metallic, made of glass, stone, wood and even horse hair. Of the rings made of metal, the vast majority are made of copper alloys, and a smaller number are made of gold. Only one made of silver was described and pictured. It was from Santa Catalina and shows a flame-crowned heart that is very similar to the heart-shaped cobs that I've discussed in the past.
Many beach-found silver rings appear to be from the wreck sites and were found along with reales and other wreck items and in close proximity. That evidence seems very convincing as well.
So the question remains: why are there so many silver rings attributed to the wrecks found on the beach while the archaeological and salvage records indicate that Spanish Colonial silver rings are so rare? I haven't yet found a satisfying answer.
Why are Spanish Colonial silver rings are so rarely reported in the archaeological record or salvage records, yet found so often on the wreck beaches? Could it be that the silver rings found on the beaches were the possessions of the lower classes or sailors rather than part of the cargo and therefore not distributed along with those more precious items that are salvaged on the wreck sites? Perhaps the silver rings were on bodies or carried by individuals trying to survive the wreck. There are other possibilities. The silver rings could being trade goods and perhaps associated with post-wreck salvage efforts rather than the original wrecking.
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