Happy Monday everyone! Since it's the start of the week I thought I might go back to my British Virgin Islands silver coins series that I've been sharing off and on for some time now. Over the years the British Virgin Islands has produced collectible coins every few years, and now yearly I believe. The series I have been sharing comes from 1985 and is called the "Sunken Ship Treasures of the Caribbean". The one I'm sharing today is pretty cool because it celebrates one of the items that I would absolutely love to find while scuba diving: gold bars! Have a look at the coin:
About the coin:
The whole coin series was produced by The Franklin Mint in Wawa, Pennsylvania, US which is pretty much in the Philadelphia area. They were all made in sterling silver (92.5% silver) which mean they can be prone to forming oxidation or milk spots on the coins. They are a great series to collect or to stack as silver since you can usually get a pretty good deal on them if you shop around.
This coin's reverse celebrates all of the gold bars that have been lost in sunken ships throughout the Caribbean, and there have been many. The British Virgin Islands have had their share of lost ships between Tortola and Virgin Gorda as ships have attempted to sail the channel and were sunk after striking coral reefs. The Caribbean is literally littered with lost treasure which is why it's a great place to hunt.
Mel Fisher located the Atocha back in the the 1970's. It was a Spanish Galleon filled with gold, silver, and emeralds but was was rammed into a reef on September 6, 1622 when they sailed into a hurricane. They have recovered amazing amounts of treasure and had to fight a court battle with the state of Florida to be able to keep it. Below are just a few of the gold bars that Mel Fisher and his family recovered from the wreck of the Atocha.
I sure wouldn't mind finding some of that myself! I have been a casual treasure hunter myself while I lived in the Caribbean. I never found any gold or silver on any of my dives unfortunately. There is a huge element of luck and more importantly knowing where to search! Before beginning to search for treasure it helps to know where to start looking. If you look where no treasure ships have sank you may not find much... Every time I see treasures like those gold bars it just gets me itching to go and try my luck out again.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read over my post. I hope you enjoyed it and peaked your interest in treasure hunting at least a little! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please feel free to leave them below. Happy Monday everyone!
And my disclaimer:
Gold and silver collecting and stacking can be a fun hobby but isn't for everyone. You can lose money. I'm not a financial advisor and this isn't financial advice, please always do your own research before spending your hard earned money.
All pictures are mine unless otherwise noted.
References:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces32494.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuestra_Se%C3%B1ora_de_Atocha
Re-blog lottery
Now for the winner of the re-blog lottery! Today we had 29 people re-blog my post, thank you so much! You guy are the best! The people who re-blogged were:
Voluntary daily reminder list for those who request to be on it: 
If you want to be added to the list as well just feel free to ask!
Thank you everyone! I have been working to improve my engagement and all of you have really helped out! If you have any recommendations or suggestions please feel free to let me know. I'm always looking to improve my posts.
Good luck to everyone!
And the Wheel of Names results:
Winner #1:
Winner #2:
Congratulations 
Congratulations 
Now for today's re-blog lottery! You just need to re-blog my post you will be placed on the Wheel of Names for a spin to possibly win up to 5 HSBI units! New twist, one winner on the first spin wins 3 HSBI, and a second spin for a chance for 2 HSBI, so two possible winners or one really lucky one could win both spins! An upvote is not required but is always greatly appreciated. Bots aren't allowed to win the prizes. Contest ends at 14:00 (2 PM) California Pacific time tomorrow. If I somehow missed your re-blog please let me know and I'll add you to the next draw.
What are HSBI units? They are units that you can purchase to sponsor someone and you in turn receive a unit as well. This way we both benefit! They give you occasional upvotes on your posts for a lifetime, and the more you accumulate the more often you receive upvotes and the bigger they can be. You can read some more here:
If you have more questions feel free to ask.
If you are interested in precious metals or even want to learn more about them feel free to come join us #silvergoldstackers
This is a new group focusing on on boarding and retaining new Hive members. Feel free to ask how you can help out!