Our treasure for June is a cache of silver reales from the Spanish colonial mints of Mexico City and Lima, found by Joel Ruth on a Florida beach after Hurricane Jeanne stormed through in September 2004.
We have all heard of the coastal region of eastern Florida from Sebastian to Miami referred to as the “Treasure Coast”. Every wonder who came up with the name “Treasure Coast”? Visit our Articles Page for the answer.
On the first anniversary of his death we want to remember our friend Lou Ullian, shown here (on the right) with fellow Real 8 members Del Long and John Jones. John (in the center) is still with us and going strong, but Del died earlier this month. Please see our previous post. We miss you, Lou.
1715 Mexico 8 Escudo found in 1964. This coin is a fully dated 1715. The quality of the photograph is rather poor and does not do the coin justice. It is round with a full shield, full OMJ and a nearly full Crown. The obverse is well centered. The Shield has brown sediment and/or ocean
1715 Mexico 8 Escudo found in 1964. This coin is a fully dated 1715. The quality of the photograph is rather poor and does not do the coin justice. It is round with a full shield, full OMJ and a nearly full Crown. The obverse is well centered. The Shield has brown sediment and/or ocean
Del Long, one of the last original members of the Real 8 Company, has died in Florida at 87. An obituary published in Florida Today is here. An article from 1965 will appear soon in our archive section. More about Del will appear shortly on In Memoriam found in our Archives link.
This was a periodical published by the Real 8 Co., Inc. for a very brief time in the early 1970’s. Original copies are extremely rare. Our thanks to Frank Noga of Eastlake, Ohio for sharing these copies with us.
Our first-ever featured treasure is this dazzling array of Fleet-recovered gold escudos from the Spanish colonial mints of Mexico City and Lima. Served up on a porcelain dish (also recovered from a Fleet wreck site), these beauties are as fresh and bright as the day they were produced. They are accompanied by a gold chain
Article by Hale G Smith from the Florida Anthropological Society Publications, No. 1 Gainesville: University of Florida, 1949. This article is referenced in the History of the Real Eight Company Through Documents and Letters, also on this site.
This narrative by Charles Dana Higgs was read at the archaeology session of the annual meeting of the Florida Historical Society, March 6, 1942. This article is referenced in the History of the Real Eight Company Through Documents and Letters, also on this site.
1712 Lima 8 Escudo found in 1964. This is a rather exquisite coin with wonderful surfaces and sharply struck details. The obverse clearly shows two dates although the photograph does not completely show the full features because of lighting issues. In reality both dates are sharply struck. The reverse has an off center Cross, but
1710 Lima 8 Escudo found in 1975. The specimen shows a well centered sharply struck double date. On the obverse the Pillars and Waves are rather high allowing a substantial portion of the legend to be seen. Some ocean deposits can be observed around the edges. The reverse has a well centered Cross with some
March 17th 2010 letter authored by Louis J. Ullian original Real 8 member describing a journal he kept of Real 8 activity from 1960 to 1965. A sample of the journal contents is shown below.
July 2nd 1998 letter from original Real Eight member Kip Kelso to an attorney from Vero Beach Florida. It appears that Kip Kelso was seeking legal advice because the book “Pieces of Eight”, published in 1966 (and copyrighted by the Real Eight Company), was being reprinted by another company. It is not clear what advice
