Nuestra Senora De Atocha Coin

Hello and welcome, you can resize images and then upload. I usually use Irfanview to reduce photos.

Hi,

The coin is pretty damaged - it should weight a bit less than 28g (almost half of the coin got lost in the sea)
Because of this, and the fact that many details are gone, most of its value come from the fact that it was sea salvaged from world known shipwreck, and certified by Mel Fisher (the US shipwreck specialst, and a cob specialist).

Many peoples are looking for those genuine pirate coins :)
Because of this, such coins value can reach the value of a better looking similar coin found elsewhere.
I have no clue though how to value those ... (I collect "regular" coins - not particularly shipwreck ones)

The certificate does not have assign a grade. The only information on the document is listed in my first note. The coin dealer I spoke with today wasn't sure if the appraiser would attach a grade as part of the appraisal. I'm not sure why there isn't a grade. The certificate and coin are framed and so I can't see the back side of the coin, there is just a picture of the back side, and I'm not sure how clear it is. I realize in the grading it matters what the coin looks like on each side and without taking it out of the frame, I'm not sure how to tell what it looks like.

Thanks so much to each of you for your assistance. This is very helpful.

The only down side to the Marketing done with Atocha are the "replica" coins made using salvaged silver and molds made from real coins found in the wreck. These "authentic silver coins" are ACTUALLY recovered silver but NOT original coins.

I know when you are in the Museum Store at Key West the manager will tell you the actual origin of some of these coins IF PRESSED. I did that just to see if they would admit they do sell cast copies. The manager on duty indicated to me personally that the coins presented for under $300 to $500 are often casts because "if they were originals they would bring THOUSANDS". He also was of the opinion that the real surviving coins belonged in Museums anyway.

On the secondary market the copies are far harder to distinguish from originals and I have seen BOGUS certificates as well.

Mel was a businessman and like any successful one there are detractors who say he salted the wreck site as well. I have run into at least one of his former business associates (not a friend) who indicated there was some "salting" done during the latter stages of recovery because they ran out of high grade material and had so many extremely poor copies left over. The way it was done was to arrange for a "private party" someone above reproach to dive with the salvers for a day. This diver would be allowed to help dig and keep one or two things he found. Well the target area had been pre-salted with cast coins aged to look real. The diver "discovered" these coins and often was asked to sign off on the find. These signatures would later substantiate the find. I can not say if the story as presented to me is true but the man that I spoke with had nothing to gain by disclosing the tale. At the time, I met him, I was in Bahamas. (Edited - got my Islands wrong - I do that all the time and it bugs my wife.)

So I can't say for sure if any or all the stories are true but having examined a few hundred coins from "Atocha" over the years, I am suspicious that not all of them were salvaged in their present form.

Just be cautious. As to value? That is what you think it is worth. At least you have a piece of the coin sack attached. That certainly could be tested for age and would be difficult to fake.