Deep-sea divers find $500m in colonial coins
A chartered cargo jet recently landed in the United States to unload hundreds of plastic containers packed with the 50,000 coins, which are expected to fetch an average of $1,000 each from collectors and investors.
"For this colonial era, I think (the find) is unprecedented," said rare coin expert Nick Bruyer, who was contracted by Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration to examine a batch of coins from the wreck. "I don't know of anything equal or comparable to it."...
[C]ourt records indicate the coins might have come from the wreck of a 17th century merchant ship found off southwestern England.
Because the shipwreck was found in an area where many colonial-era vessels went down, the company is still uncertain about its nationality, size and age, [Company co-founder Greg] Stemm said, although evidence points to a specific known shipwreck.
The site is beyond the territorial waters or legal jurisdiction of any country, he said...
In keeping with the secretive nature of the project dubbed "Black Swan," Odyssey also is not discussing details of the coins, such as their type, denomination or country of origin...
Experts said that controlled release of the coins into the market along with aggressive marketing should keep prices at a premium.
The richest-ever shipwreck haul was yielded by the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank in a hurricane off the Florida Keys in 1622. Treasure-hunting pioneer Mel Fisher found it in 1985, retrieving a reported $400 million in coins and other loot.