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Message:: [QUOTE="Dafydd, post: 26790323, member: 86815"][ATTACH=full]1710028[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1710029[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1710030[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1710031[/ATTACH] This is an Ebay pick up I am very pleased with. It is a coin with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) from the Cobb Coin Company, Inc., which was the salvage firm founded by the legendary treasure hunter Mel Fisher to manage the recovery and sale of artifacts from the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet. This certificate, numbered 234601, was issued to verify a coin recovered from the wreckage of 11 Spanish ships that were destroyed by a hurricane off the coast of Florida on 31 July 1715. 1715 Fleet coins are sought after. The Coin Identification <ul> <li>Type: Spanish "Cob" (from cabo de barra, meaning "end of the bar"). These were crudely hand-struck from silver bars.</li> <li>Denomination; 1 Real. The side shown features the Hapsburg Shield, which contained the coats of arms of the various territories under the Spanish crown at the time. Most silver recovered by the Cobb Coin Company was minted in Mexico City, though some came from Potosí (modern-day Bolivia) or Lima (Peru).</li> </ul>I have a number of 1 Real coins but the reason I wanted this certificate was really because it was a nice clean certificate and it was the signers who interested me .I have pretty tatty coffee stained certificate with the signatures which I will post, this one however is in great condition as it is behind glass. Most of the Cobb Coin Company accompanied coins that I have seen are of lower grade coins like this one intended for mass selling and promotional items. The condition of the coin was irrelevant to me. The Three Signers 1. Mel Fisher (President) Known as the "World's Greatest Treasure Hunter," Melvin A. Fisher (1922–1998) was a pioneer in underwater salvage. After decades of searching and legal battles, he famously discovered the "mother lode" of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha in 1985. He founded the Cobb Coin Company specifically to handle the salvage of the 1715 Fleet, which provided the "seed money" that funded his 16-year search for the Atocha. Mel Fisher is an iconic figure, and I could write pages about him and his career, but he is best remembered for his discovery and Salvage of the Atocha, and his Mel Fisher’s famous daily mantra was: "Today’s the day!" He said it every single morning for 16 years while he searched for the Nuestra Señora de Atocha. It became a symbol of his relentless optimism and is now legendary in the world of treasure hunting. Fisher was totally tenacious despite many setbacks the most tragic being the loss of one of his sons together with the son’s wife and another salvageor. He also faced modern day pirates, including the State and Federal government. 2. R. Duncan Mathewson III (Archaeologist) Mathewson was the chief archaeologist for Mel Fisher’s operations. He was a controversial figure in the 1970s and 80s because he was one of the first professional archaeologists to work alongside commercial treasure hunters. He is credited with bringing scientific rigour to the salvage process, ensuring that the "context" of the finds was recorded rather than just "smash and grab" looting. He authored the definitive book Treasure of the Atocha, detailing the archaeological methods used on Fisher's wrecks. 3. Dr Eugene Lyon (Historian) <ul> <li>Dr Lyon was the historical researcher who actually told Mel Fisher where to look. While Fisher provided the brawn and Mathewson the science, Lyon provided the "map." A PhD historian, he spent years in the Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain, translating 400-year-old dusty manifests. His research corrected the previously believed location of the Atocha, leading Fisher's team to the correct "Quick Sands" area. He is considered the foremost authority on the 1565–1715 Spanish colonial period in Florida. I was privileged to attend the 1715 Fleet Society Convention in January which was opened on Monday, 12 January 2026, with a formal Dedication to Dr Eugene Lyon led by the Society’s President, Ben Costello. Members of the Lyon family were in attendance as guests of honour. Since Dr Lyon passed away in 2020, the 2026 biennial event was the first major gathering where the community could fully dedicate their scholarship to his memory. The dedication was not just a formal "thank you," but a deep acknowledgement that without his specific "detective work" in the Spanish archives, the 1715 Fleet (and the Atocha) might still be lost to the sands and we wouldn’t be collecting these coins.</li> </ul>Notable aspects of the tribute included: The "Mapmaker" Legacy: The eulogy highlighted that while others provided the boats and the diving gear, Lyon provided the "intellectual map." Speakers noted that he spent years in the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, translating 16th and 17th-century Spanish—a task many described as "more gruelling than the diving itself." The "Pelican in its Piety" Identification: A recurring theme in the comments was Lyon's incredible eye for detail. A specific example mentioned was his identification of the famous "Golden Pelican" reliquary. Before Lyon examined it, many thought it was an eagle or a strange bird; he correctly identified it as a "Pelican in its Piety" (a mother bird feeding her young with her own blood), a vital symbol of Christ in Spanish colonial Catholicism. A "Gentleman Scholar": Many attendees and family members shared anecdotes describing him as the "gentleman scholar" of the treasure coast. Unlike the often-boisterous world of salvage, Lyon was remembered for his quiet humility and his willingness to help any enthusiast, whether they were a multi-millionaire salvager or a hobbyist with a metal detector. If you notice the certificate, it has an embossed seal. This is very important. Sadly, like much of our hobby this specialist area is attracting scammers, scoundrels and thieves. There is a Facebook forum for Atocha collectors and recently a post highlighted a coin that was sold at Heritage in 2024 for $204 and the same coin is now being sold in the USA cracked out of its slab as an “Atocha” coin in for $4995.00 accompanied with a certificate.[ATTACH=full]1710032[/ATTACH]                                       2024 $204.00 2026 $4995.00!Grade 1 Atocha coins have a real cachet and attract a huge premium, so this brings out the swindlers.  Of course, with a potential profit of $4791 it would also not be beyond the wit of man to have an embossing tool made. I would mention that the Atocha shipwreck predated the 1715 Fleet disaster by 93 years so my coin in this post is not an Atocha recovered coin. I recently bought an Atocha coin and when it arrived the weight was radically different to that on the certificate. I posted this discrepancy on the forum and was extremely lucky that one of the original divers answered my query and explained that with 150,000 coins to sort, mistakes were made and my coin was on the Mel Fisher archive database, so I needn’t worry about the weight.  It taught me a lesson however that I would not buy another without checking the database first, certificate or not. Attributed coins can bring a premium of 500% over unattributed coins, so buyer beware![/QUOTE]

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