I've learned there are some extremely knowledgeable numismatists on this site. Based on this photo what shipwreck and thoughts as to value?
Well no matter how smart you may believe us to be, no one here can tell you that , from an Image of a ship wreck coin! Especially the image you have provided.... Perhasp if the image were better, and you posted both sides someone may be able to place a period when it was minted. Given that metric tons of Spanish silver have gone down in ships over centuries, Unless the specimen was documented to a given wreck there no way to tell....unless you ask the magic 8 ball. That may tell you more then any member here possibly could.
Clue.....again tons of Silver has gone down off Key West , and throughout the Carribean over centuries unless documented from the wreck no one can tell.
There isn't any way to look at the Reverse side of a cob and determine what ship wreck it came from....end of story. Especially in the condition of the cob you posted. As for Mel Fisher I have several cobs from the Atocha wreck. I also met Mel Several time before he passed. That's Mel sitting next to Jimmy Buffett the day the Atocha was found!
Want to hear an even better ship wreck story, find the book "Ship of Gold" and read about Tommy Thompson and the the sidewheel steamer Central America.
Wasn't Mel Fisher the guy who attached some converted Post Office collection boxes to direct the turbulence from his boat's propellers to clear away the sand from the wreck?
Paddy, there are some coins, where by looking at the coin alone, you can identify the shipwreck, and quite easily. But I agree with you, this is not one of those cases. The reason it's easy to do is because the entire mintage of the given coin is known to have gone down on that one ship. Yeah he used them alright, I've watched him do it. But so have, and still do, many others. I have no idea who was the first to come up with the idea.
Their were certain clues in the coin itself which pointed toward the time and mint which relate to the shipwreck.
