Rare Dated Diver's Division 1 Reale Treasure Coin Pendant from the 1715 Fleet Glory Days of Kip Wagner and Mel Fisher - a Cannon Beach Treasure Company Exclusive

Please Note: This is an authentic 1715 Fleet Shipwreck Treasure Coin, and you will receive the exact pendant in the photographs and description.

This Pendant is the width of a NICKEL sized… Pendant Size Including Bezel: 7/8" Across, 1 3/8" Tall - the width of a nickel

One of the most famed treasure fleets of all time, the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet yields some of the most stunning examples of early 1700's silver Spanish "cob" shipwreck treasure coins.

Crudely minted cob coins - short for cabo de barra, or "end of the bar," each has its own unique shape - and combined with the sea wear and stunning patinas, each is a small work of art. And the coins in this special collection were recovered during the heyday of the 1715 Fleet recovery efforts, when legends like Kip Wagner and Mel Fisher headed crews destined to discover these precious treasures!

What connection does the 1715 Fleet have to Pirates: These "pieces of 8" are also the famous coins of pirate legend and lore. The Spanish quickly began salvaging their fleet. But pirate Henry Jennings amassed a crew and attacked the Spanish salvage camp on December 28, 1715. They made off with upwards of 350,000 pieces of 8. Obviously, this coin survived that raid, and lay hidden for hundreds of years on the ocean bottom, to be salvaged only a few years ago.

The pirate Blackbeard was also prowling the Florida coast and Caribbean at this time and drinking rum with Jennings! It's fascinating to consider that Blackbeard was sailing by, and attacking ships, just a few miles from the wreckage of "The Fleet," which stretched for over 30 miles along the Florida coast.

Your 1715 Fleet Shipwreck Treasure Coin

• Date: 1702 - Super rare double dated
• Denomination: 1 Reale (Rare denomination and mint - see Robert's Notes below)
• Mint: Potosi, Upper Peru (present day Bolivia)
• Assayer: Y
• Ruler: King Philip V of Spain
• Coin Metal: Silver
• Bezel Metal: 14K Solid Gold
• Obverse (Front): Jerusalem Cross 
• Reverse: (Back): Pillars and Waves
• Articulating Nautical Shackle Bail Interior Diameter: Will accommodate chain or leather necklace up to 6.2mm
• Pendant size, including bezel: 7/8" Across, 1 3/8" Tall - the diameter of a nickel

Notes From Robert: WOW! Stunning Grade 1! Very rare piece! Two, sweet visible dates! Most of the time only one is visible. 

Potosi mint coins from the 1715 Fleet are super rare. Stunning cross and Pillars and Waves detail. Almost uncirculated.  

Sweet mint mark, assayer's initial, denomination, and excellent PLV SVL TRA (PLUS ULTRA - More Beyond - see below). 

It is from the inner part of a clump of coins which was once part of a "treasure chest," which preserved its detail. See below for a link to learn how to read this coin.

Most of the coins recovered from "The Fleet" we minted in Mexico City. Less than 10 of the coins were struck at Potosi, And due to their small size, small coins like this didn't survive as well as their large silver dollar-size 8 reale counterparts. And only about 7% of the coins minted at this time were 1 reales. The majority were the large 8 reales.

Truly regal for the pirate queen or king!

Here's How To Read a Pillars and Waves design coin

A CBTC Exclusive - the Diver's Division Collection: This coin is one of the first treasures to be recovered from the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet - sometimes called the 1715 Plate Fleet - during the 1963/64 diving season. It was recovered only about 1,000 yards off shore, in about 15 feet of water, south of Vero Beach. During this time Kip Wagner's Real Eight Company and Mel Fisher's divers worked the area. In May of 1964, Fisher and his divers discovered over 1,000 gold doubloons!

When we acquired it, it was in "as recovered" condition. I gently restored it in our conservation lab.

I was born in the summer of '62. Thirty years later, I used to dive on another "Fleet" shipwreck site near there starting in '88. My main job was to film and photograph the treasure being recovered. But when I wasn't filming I was searching for treasure on the bottom. It was a two hour boat ride to the site from our dock inside Sebastian Inlet. So on the days I had to head back to Key Largo where I lived, I would travel out on the boat in the morning and work most of the day, then swim the half-mile or so to shore with my gear to a car waiting with a friend to take me back home. 

A diver's division is what a treasure diver received at the end of a diving season, IF treasure was recovered. During my diving years, sometimes I got a division, and sometimes I didn't. As us treasure hunters say, "That's why we call it treasure 'hunting" and not 'finding.'"

Ahhh, "The good 'Ol Days."

For more on the 1715 Fleet, click here>

To see our complete collection of Spanish "Piece of Eight" treasure coins, click here>

Your 1715 Fleet Shipwreck Piece of Eight Pendant Comes Complete with:

1. Our 100% Authentic Lifetime Guarantee
2. A Detailed, 3 Page Certificate of Authenticity Researched and Written by Robert Lewis Knecht, who used to dive on the 1715 Fleet
3. 10 Page full color Historic brief about the Potosi Mint, written by Robert 
4. "Pieces of Eight" Historic Brief
5. The Coins of the Lost Galleons Book
6. Treasure Hunters Gazette Booklet
7. Mini Museum display for when you are not wearing your treasure
8. A Treasure Jewelry Care Card