Happy Monday everyone! If there is such a thing... Today I decided to continue on with my treasure hunting series. I've been collecting a series of coins minted in 1985 for the British Virgin Islands that commemorate the sunken treasures of the Caribbean. Over the last year or so I've shared many of the coins, and to be honest I'm just about to the end of the collection.
Today's coin isn't as exciting as gold money chains, but still are priceless treasures of shipwreck recovery. Here is the Perfume Bottle:
## About the coin:
From numista.com
While far from being the most exciting coin from the Sunken Ship Treasures of the Caribbean series, it's still a pretty coin. The Perfume Bottle represents what was once a very prized possession back in the time of pirates and Spanish galleons. Perfume was a commodity used mainly by the wealthy, however even the commoners had their own versions for use to cover up body odor. People didn't bathe nearly as often in those days and they most certainly wouldn't have smelled very good...
But this coin shares one of the rarer treasures you can find from old shipwrecks, actual perfume bottles. Many have been found over the years and they are prized treasures among collectors and don't come inexpensive. The coin itself was produced at the Franklin Mint in Wawa, Pennsylvania back when they produced many of the coins for islands around the world. It is composed of sterling silver which was the most common metal they used for some reason, if unfortunately does oxidize more easily than pure silver leaving white spots.
The silver melt value on these is around $27.43, although the collector's premium is higher. I've seen many of these going for more than $40 to $50 as of late.
Many think of the treasures of the Caribbean as only silver and gold. And for the most part, that is what is found as it lasts well over the centuries. Some items found from wrecks over the years:
pinterest.de
Gold money chain from the Atocha wreck
pirategoldcoins.com
Varied treasures found from multiple sites in the Caribbean
The gold money chain seen above is beautiful. And believe it or not similar items have been found along beaches in the past. One lucky finder was a woman walking the beach in the Turks and Caicos to find a small patch of gold sticking through the sand. It turned out to be an intact Spanish gold money chain! Not a bad day at the beach!
Money chains were produced to have links removed to be used as payment for goods. In the early days of the Caribbean coins were very rare so the money chain was invented! Many of these are still buried in the beaches of Florida and other Caribbean islands, and on the sea floor under years of sand deposits after shipwrecks. There is still a lot of treasure to be found!
Now for an interesting perfume bottle ship wreck discovery. Although not found in the Caribbean, it was found off of the reefs of Bermuda, another beautiful place!
Mary Celestia
nationalgeographic.com
Wreckage of the Mary Celestia
The Mary Celestia was a ship being used by the Confederates during the American Civil War as a blockade runner. In other words, it was being used to smuggle goods past a blockage of Union ships preventing goods from reaching southern ports. Unfortunately, it met a gruesome fate striking a reef off of Bermuda in 1864 and sank. Since it's rediscovery it's been a popular dive site as it's very well intact, and one of the most remarkable finds was a bottle of perfume that was still intact and sealed inside of the wreck after more than 150 years.
The intact perfume bottle found in the Mary Celestia
It was decided to attempt to recreate the original fragrance which turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated. The original contained ambergris which is produced by sperm whales. It was used in most fragrances for many years but it now not considered ethical for use. After close to a year they were able to recreate the fragrance as closely as possible and it's now sold out of Bermuda if you want to own some for yourself!
Lina Zeldovich
It may not be the original bottle of perfume, but as close as you can get in today's world!
Treasure hunting is a very fun hobby to take up. There are literally lost treasures everywhere in the world, some lost to shipwrecks and other stashed away by it's owner hoping to return and collect it. But they are still out there just waiting to be found. If you decide to join the fun world of treasure hunting, good research is always where to start. Looking for treasure where none has been lost makes the odds of finding it much smaller. Then again, amateur metal detectorists often come across coin hordes that no one has known about in random fields... So research helps, but a lot of luck helps even more!
That will wrap up my post of the day, I do hope you enjoyed the coin and stories. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments below, and thank you for all of your support. It's greatly appreciated! Have a great week everyone!
References:
https://en.numista.com/44622
https://theworld.org/stories/2020/07/22/bermuda-perfumer-recreates-fragrance-found-19th-century-shipwreck
Disclaimer
I am not a financial planner and this isn't financial advice. Please always do your own research before investing your money. You worked hard enough to earn it!
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