March 2012 Treasure of the Month

It was in the early afternoon of a June day in 1967 that John de Bry found his first significant artifact to date, a silver-gilded miniature urn. The gilding was still visible in places, with some green corrosion product on certain parts of the urn. While the purpose of the urn was never clearly determined, it could have been meant to hold perfume or some other fragrance, or it might have been simply a decorative piece. This beautiful, delicate, and intricate artifact was de Bry’s most thrilling find on the Cabin Wreck in his first summer of diving on the first 1715 shipwreck found by Kip WagnerKip Wagner (1906 – 1972) was instrumental in the formation of the team that later became the Real Eight Company and one of the greatest salvage groups that ever explored the 1715 Fleet wrecks.  He ... and his Real Eight CompanyAlso referred to occasionally as “The Real 8 Company”- was incorporated in 1961. It had eight members….Kip Wagner, Kip Kelso, Dan Thompson, Harry Cannon, Lou Ullian, Del Long, Erv Taylor and Lis....