The above table come from a study of the reales of the Tortugas wreck. Below is the introduction from the articlle.
Between 1990 and 1991 an assemblage of 1,184 silver cob coins was excavated from the 400m-deep Tortugas shipwreck off the Florida Keys, a merchant vessel from the 1622 Spanish Tierra Firme fleet most plausibly identified as the 117-ton Buen Jesús y Nuestra Señora del Rosario. A sample of 648 coins retained in the collection of Odyssey Marine Exploration in Tampa, Florida, was re-examined in 2011 to obtain optimum quantitative data about the coins’ denominations, mint origins, dates and assayer admin istrators. Silver reales coins were identified from predominantly, and unexpectedly, the mint of Mexico, followed by Potosi and a ‘Bogotá/Cartagena or Old World’ class.
Although vast quantities of comparable silver coins have been recovered from the shallow-water wrecks of the Atocha and Margarita from the same homeward-bound 1622 Spanish fleet, this material has not been subjected to formal quantification. The value of the Tortugas collection lies in its association with a small Tierra Firme fleet merchant vessel, and as an important archaeo logical counterpoint to the more renowned large treasure-laden flota warships. The Tortugas wreck thus reflects the smaller scale maritime trade conducted between Colonial Spain and the Americas that is less conspicuous within the archaeological record...
What Would a Spanish Dollar Buy? While it has been widely quoted that a common worker would need to labor a month to earn one or two Spanish dollars (also called pesos and ‘pieces of eight’), each consist ing of 8 reales of silver, just like today the value of money f luctuated as a result of inflation, recession and geography. As a general indication of income, Walton (1994: xiii) has suggested that in the era of Columbus the richest aristocrat in Spain earned over 80,000 pesos a year from his estates, while a typical laborer made about 25 pesos annually. In 1622, the year of the Tortugas shipwreck sinking, and in 1623, a master carpenter could make 238 maravedís a day (34 maravedís = 1 reale), a master mason 272 maravedís, a laborer 136 maravedís, a gardener 25 maravedís and a female cook 11 maravedís a day...
Here is the link for the entire article.be6d77_40ec0076da6b46199b40ebcc7e983141.pdf
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You might find some other articles you will want to read here.
Publications – Florida Anthropological Society
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| Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Came (South Zoom View from Surfguru.com Around 6 PM Monday. |
There is a small cut, or what I'd call a crease, on the beach Monday around 6 PM. It didn't last long though. Tuesday morning it was gone (as you can see below).
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| Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Came (South Zoom View from Surfguru.com Around 9 AM Tuesday. |
Once detectorist was working the beach there Tuesday morning.
You can see the equipment going to be used to pump sand onto the beach below.
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| Beach Renourishment Equipment at Fort Pierce. |
There will be beach and jetty closures during the renourishment project. I think the jetty will be close on the 18th.
This seems to be the same kind of thing they are doing at Sebastian. They have the tall metal structures there too, and I thought I could see the pipe on the beach at one point. I think the excavator is moving the pipe down the beach. You can see that on the Sebastian beach cam.
The renourishment project is going on during Turtle nesting and is contrary to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation plan.
Here is the Tuesday surf chart.
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| Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com. |
As the surf chart is showing, there is currently a north NNW wind and a north surf.
It is a bit chilly out today too.
Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Treasureguide@comcast.net