The term “Atocha Coins” refers to silver and gold Spanish coins recovered from the
shipwreck of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha.
On September 6, 1622, the heavily laden treasure galleon of King Philip IV’s Tierra
Firme Fleet struck a reef and sank in a raging storm near the Florida Keys. More than
two hundred and sixty persons perished and tons of gold, silver, and other precious
cargo were lost to the sea. All attempts to locate the shipwreck failed until the
location of the primary cultural deposit was made by Treasure Salvors, Inc., on July
20th 1985.
The Nuestra Senora de Atocha carried about 230,000 hand stamped silver coins from
mints in Potosi, Lima and Mexico City. To date, only 128 gold Atocha coins have been
recovered! The gold Atocha coins were minted in Spain, as gold coins were not minted
in the New World in 1622. The gold Atocha coins would have been in the pockets and
possessions of the wealthy passengers.
Silver coins are referred to as “pieces of eight” and were measured in reales. Their
denominations are 8 reales, 4 reales, 2 reales, 1 real, ½ real and ¼ real. An 8
reales silver Atocha coin was roughly equivalent to one month’s pay for a sailor
in the 1600’s.
Denominations of the Atocha coins were based on the “Onza” or avoirdupois ounce
equaling 28 grams. Each denomination was to equal one-half of the next higher
denomination. Due to the crude hand-struck minting process, no two coins look
alike.
Gold Atocha coins were measured in escudos and were referred to as “doubloons”.
The term dubloon originally came from the word “double” for a two escudo coin.
Two pieces of eight (silver) equaled a one-escudo coin or a sixteen-to-one ration
between gold and silver bullion. Gold coin denominations are 8 escudo, 4 escudo, 2
escudo and 1 escudo.
You can purchase your own authentic Atocha coin or a reproduction made from authentic
Atocha silver or gold from the only treasure website on the internet of the Mel Fisher
family. Every item on the Mel Fisher website can be guaranteed to be authentic and comes
with a documented Certificate of Authenticity that can trace the item from the seabed –
to our conservation lab – to you.
NO OTHER “TREASURE” OR “ATOCHA COIN” SITE CAN MAKE THAT
CLAIM!