Treasure hunters have recovered another $1 million worth of gold and silver coins from a 1715 Spanish shipwreck off Florida’s Treasure Coast.
During this summer’s salvage season, the team behind 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels, LLC, unearthed more than 1,000 silver coins (Reales), five gold coins (Escudos) and additional gold artifacts.
“This discovery is not only about the treasure itself, but the stories it tells,” said Sal Guttuso, director of operations. “Each coin is a piece of history, a tangible link to the people who lived, worked, and sailed during the Golden Age of the Spanish Empire. Finding 1,000 of them in a single recovery is both rare and extraordinary.”
The coins date from the 1715 disaster in which 11 galleons were lost during a hurricane. Historians have estimated as much as $400 million in treasures were aboard when the fleet sank.
Many of the recovered coins still bear visible dates and mint marks, suggesting they originated from a single chest or shipment that broke apart during the storm.
The retrieved artifacts will be conserved and eventually displayed to the public in local museums under state oversight.
