Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
 |
Doble Excelente Gold Coin from the Finds of Peter Hughes at Margram Beach Snippet from the Ann Francis | Museum Wales |
In my 7/12/26 post I presented finds by longtime detectorist and reader Peter Hughes. His finds, coming from Spain rather than the New World, are more varied than those from our Treasure Coast shipwrecks. They are also considerably older than those found on the 1715 Fleet wrecks. One example is the above Ferdinand and Isabella Doble Excelente coin minted in Spain. A doble excelente would be 7 grams of .99 gold and 29 mm in diameter. It has a nice little star that reminds me very much of the Lima star coins. The doble excelente is just one of the finds illustrated on the blog post.
I thought you should learn more about the wreck and see more of Peter's finds and so I am pointing you to the museum blog, Ann Francis | Museum Wales. I hope you will visit that blog.
Here are a few excerpts from that blog post to get you started.
Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales has just acquired a spectacular collection of coins and artefacts. These were discovered by Peter Hughes, a metal detectorist, between 1996 and 2017. They include about 870 gold and silver coins, as well as personal belongings, ship’s equipment, and cooking, eating and drinking utensils, all dating to the late-15th to 16th century...
Francis Shaxton, the owner, claimed that the Ann Francis had sailed to Hartlepool from King’s Lynn, but in truth, the Ann Francis had set sail for the Iberian Peninsula in October with a cargo of wheat. At the time, Spain relied on imports of grain as well as other goods. It paid for these shipments with gold and silver bullion, which had been shipped from Spain’s recent conquests in South and Central America. The Ann Francis was returning home to Kings Lynn from Spain with payment for the grain along with other tradeable goods when it was driven onto the shore by a storm and violently wrecked. A navigational error or strong southerly winds may have led its captain to enter the Bristol Channel instead of the English Channel...
Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales has just acquired a spectacular collection of coins and artefacts. These were discovered by Peter Hughes, a metal detectorist, between 1996 and 2017. They include about 870 gold and silver coins, as well as personal belongings, ship’s equipment, and cooking, eating and drinking utensils, all dating to the late-15th to 16th century...
Francis Shaxton, the owner, claimed that the Ann Francis had sailed to Hartlepool from King’s Lynn, but in truth, the Ann Francis had set sail for the Iberian Peninsula in October with a cargo of wheat. At the time, Spain relied on imports of grain as well as other goods. It paid for these shipments with gold and silver bullion, which had been shipped from Spain’s recent conquests in South and Central America. The Ann Francis was returning home to Kings Lynn from Spain with payment for the grain along with other tradeable goods when it was driven onto the shore by a storm and violently wrecked. A navigational error or strong southerly winds may have led its captain to enter the Bristol Channel instead of the English Channel...
You can read on in the article to find out about history and circumstances of the wreck, which is very interesting and informative. You will read of the earliest discovery and attempts to salvage items from the wreck and the typical disagreements over ownership. You will also see more find photos, including, for example a very early three-reale minted by the Mexico mint. There is much to read and see. Here is the link.
The live sales format stands in stark contrast to the 1960s, when hobby periodicals were the main venue for collectors across the country to access new inventory. In the 1980s, dealers connected via Teletype and electronic exchanges, before the Internet made way for massive disruption. Also in the 1980s, home shopping networks offered a channel for retail sales to the masses, many of whom may not have had exposure to numismatics before, outside of rooting through their wallets and purses...
In the last few years, the debut of live shopping sales portals like Whatnot and eBay Live have transformed the business. This (probably along with the pandemic bubble) has inflated market values for lower-end material like Wheat cents and 10-percent-silver Mexican pesos from the 1960s. Whereas Wheat cents pre-pandemic were routinely available in bulk quantities for $200 to $250 per 5,000-count bag, today that price is $150 to $200 higher. Though, in fairness, the 2025 “death” of the Lincoln cent may also have prompted interest to spike, but other lower-end material is also spiking, as newer collectors are exposed to inventory without a framework of reference for value...
The launch of semiquincentennial coins this year, especially the July 4 privy mark found on only 250,000 Thomas Jefferson 25-cent coins, “are good for the hobby as it creates a treasure hunt for collectors of all types,” said Brush. “I can only hope that there will be more of these opportunities for future collectors and less of the more expensive promotional-type issues that are focused more on the higher-end buyers.”...
The performance of gold, and of course gold coins, has been spectacular in recent times. Gold is now settling back into a slightly more modest post-crisis trading range; however, the demand for collectible and rare gold coins continues to hold its own. Heritage Auctions recently pointed out that 10 coins in their late March auction combined to realize $1.3 million (The auction realized about $11.5 million total!). Eight of those 10 coins were U.S. gold coins. The combined value of the 10 coins was helped by a coveted 1895 Morgan silver dollar that, in PCGS Proof 63, realized $91,500, this being significantly higher than had been its suggested trade value...
What all this shows is that there is continuing strength in the rare coin market. Bullion and intrinsic value-impacted coins took a recent hit based on good news regarding the potential end of the U.S. war with Iran, but gold as well as silver have once more stabilized. This has created a modestly lower trading range for coins that are not being appreciated due to their potential scarcity. Relatively available coins that have been certified in unusually high grades remain prized, their prices remaining strong...
It is good to remember that by the time modern detectorists get to an old shipwreck, there have probably been several previous attempts at salvage.
Once again, thanks to Peter Hughes for sharing his great beach metal detecting finds with this blog. Here is the link to my previoius post.
---
Here are a few excerpts from an article entitled Future of Collecting from Numismatic News.
The live sales format stands in stark contrast to the 1960s, when hobby periodicals were the main venue for collectors across the country to access new inventory. In the 1980s, dealers connected via Teletype and electronic exchanges, before the Internet made way for massive disruption. Also in the 1980s, home shopping networks offered a channel for retail sales to the masses, many of whom may not have had exposure to numismatics before, outside of rooting through their wallets and purses...
In the last few years, the debut of live shopping sales portals like Whatnot and eBay Live have transformed the business. This (probably along with the pandemic bubble) has inflated market values for lower-end material like Wheat cents and 10-percent-silver Mexican pesos from the 1960s. Whereas Wheat cents pre-pandemic were routinely available in bulk quantities for $200 to $250 per 5,000-count bag, today that price is $150 to $200 higher. Though, in fairness, the 2025 “death” of the Lincoln cent may also have prompted interest to spike, but other lower-end material is also spiking, as newer collectors are exposed to inventory without a framework of reference for value...
The launch of semiquincentennial coins this year, especially the July 4 privy mark found on only 250,000 Thomas Jefferson 25-cent coins, “are good for the hobby as it creates a treasure hunt for collectors of all types,” said Brush. “I can only hope that there will be more of these opportunities for future collectors and less of the more expensive promotional-type issues that are focused more on the higher-end buyers.”...
Here is the link for the rest of that article.
The Future of Collecting - Numismatic News
---
Gold prices have decreased, but no the prices of rare coins. Here are a few more excerpts from an article about that, also from Numismatic News.
The performance of gold, and of course gold coins, has been spectacular in recent times. Gold is now settling back into a slightly more modest post-crisis trading range; however, the demand for collectible and rare gold coins continues to hold its own. Heritage Auctions recently pointed out that 10 coins in their late March auction combined to realize $1.3 million (The auction realized about $11.5 million total!). Eight of those 10 coins were U.S. gold coins. The combined value of the 10 coins was helped by a coveted 1895 Morgan silver dollar that, in PCGS Proof 63, realized $91,500, this being significantly higher than had been its suggested trade value...
What all this shows is that there is continuing strength in the rare coin market. Bullion and intrinsic value-impacted coins took a recent hit based on good news regarding the potential end of the U.S. war with Iran, but gold as well as silver have once more stabilized. This has created a modestly lower trading range for coins that are not being appreciated due to their potential scarcity. Relatively available coins that have been certified in unusually high grades remain prized, their prices remaining strong...
And here is that link for more of that article.
Gold Cools, Rare Coins Don’t - Numismatic News
---
 |
| Source:nhc.noaa.gov |
Bertha has moved farther west.
 |
| Fort Pierce South Jetty Around 10 AM Thursday. |
Nobody is enjoying the nice new sand this morning at Fort Pierce South Jetty.
As you can see the surf is smooth.
Nothing bigger than a one to two foot surf is predicted through this week.
Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net