Beautiful Bahamas Silver and Treasure from the Shipwreck Maravilla

Today I decided to finally finish up a post I had started months ago. It's has an interesting story, and a whole lot of treasure. But to kick things off I wanted to share something I picked up in a coin shop in Miami many long years ago...

I was in a coin shop in Miami back in the 90's and found this really cool looking coin. First off it has a young Queen Elizabeth II, which I much prefer to her older look. What sold me, however, was the blue toning that the coin had developed on the obverse (front.) I've had in my collection ever since, the color is just so pretty!

Silver coins can develop oxidation on the surface if not stored properly. In some cases the oxidation can produce something beautiful like the coin below.

About the coin:

From numista.com

I love this coin, it's gorgeous and from the Caribbean. I have collected coins from the area since I lived there in the 90's. It's not a very rare coin, around 35K were made by the Franklin Mint in Wawa, Pennsylvania, but it is from the Bahamas. There are a few great things to do in the Bahamas, enjoy the beach with some beer, go fishing for some very big fish including marlin, or go diving to enjoy the reefs or treasure hunt. I've done all three!

Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas

The Andalucia, replica of a 17th century galleon
kentonline.co.uk

The Maravillas (the wonders) was a Spanish galleon tasked with transporting treasure from the Americas to Seville, Spain in 1654. It was a very large vessel as you can see in the replica above. The ship arrived in Cartagena, Colombia in August of 1674 to transport tax payments and private property to Spain. Upon arrival they were waiting for another vessel to arrive from Ecuador loaded with silver, only to hear the vessel had sank on a reef off of Ecuador. Some of the silver was salvaged and finally arrived in Cartagena. However, due to hurricane season the ship was forced to stay in Colombia through the winter.

Finally, in late December 1655 the vessel was able to set sail for Spain loaded with much more treasure than anticipated do to the year long wait. It was near midnight on January 4, 1656 when the fleet of ships were passing between the narrow passage between Florida and the Bahamas. The flagship of the fleet, the Capitana, ran into the Maravilla due to navigational error. The Marvilla lost navigational control and within 30 minutes collided with a coral reef and quickly sank due to the heavy load. Of the 650 people onboard, only 45 survived.

Since the loss of the ship people have been salvaging treasures ever since. The Spanish recovered some of the treasure, but the majority was still at the bottom of the ocean. From the time of sinking until the mid 1990's some 3.5 million silver pieces of eight were recovered from the wreck, many private divers profited from diving the site.

In 2019 the government of the Bahamas entered and agreement with AllenX to recover the treasure. The government gets a share as does the private company. However, AllenX will not sell any of their finds and they will placed in a museum they funded called the Bahamas Maritime Museum. The government, however, can sell their portion of the treasure.

The studies done revealed the wreck showed the treasure to be strewn over 13 kilometers of the ocean floor and some in very deep water. Remotely operated vehicles will have to recover anything over 150 feet, roughly the maximum depth humans can safely dive. In my diving days I never liked going very deep as nitrogen bubbles can form in your joints and blood, called the benz, when you ascend too quickly. It can be a painful experience and in some cases fatal.

The Treasure

The Bahamas Maritime Museum

Many amazing artifacts have been recovered from the wreck so far including silver bars, gold coins, emerald religious pieces, and even intricate gold chains that were produced in the Philippines by artisans from China. Just imagine even finding one of these treasures, what an amazing experience that would be!

This is why I love treasure hunting, most times you find nothing. But in these cases you can find amazing relics of the past. These are just some of the treasures from the Maravilla, but the majority are still waiting to be recovered. All over the Caribbean there are lost treasures just like these just waiting to be discovered. I have searched many times myself but never got lucky.

If you do decide to look for yourself, remember that the coral reefs from the 1600's are long dead and buried under up to twenty feet of sand. Research the location well, and you might get lucky! Most treasure from that era are buried under sand and hurricanes have displaced much of it over the centuries.

There is lost treasure everywhere in the world, all just waiting to be found. It takes a lot of research and a whole lot of luck to find it. But if you don't bother to look, you'll never will find anything! Just remember to stay safe, because if you're dead, you can't spend your treasure...

That will do it for my post for today, I hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments below. I want to thank all of you for your support, it is deeply appreciated. Have a great a day everyone!

References:

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces19541.html

https://www.bahamasmaritimemuseum.com/maravillas

Disclaimer:

I am not a financial planner and this isn't financial advice. Please always do your own research before investing your money. You worked hard enough to earn it!

Pictures are mine unless otherwise indicated.

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