Florida was a colony of Spain from shortly after Columbus arrived in the new world until right after the American revolution. Spain considered Florida very important because, as treasures from the western hemisphere left Cuba, ships returning to Spain traveled north to catch the Gulf Stream. These ships turned eastward at St. Augustine and many of the artifacts from the Spanish era have been recovered from shipwrecks along the coast of Florida. Here are some pictures of gold coins and artifacts recovered from some of the shipwrecks and displayed at the Museum of Florida History in downtown Tallahassee. My favorite item, a gold glove tray, is shown in the first picture. The second picture shows some centuries old gold coins and the third picture is a closeup of one of the coins. This exhibit is very popular with the school kids apparently. I had to dodge excited kids running all over the place pointing and talking about ships and pirates. I highly recommend clicking on these pictures to enlarge them and get a better view of this beautiful gold. It's amazing!
26 comments:
My favourite is the first picture as well! Stunning glove tray!Thanks for sharing all historical information about!
Léia :)
Gold that shimmers like I've never seen before! Beautiful.
Great, glittering, glamourous, glitzy gold!
Did you pretend to be a pirate, too, Lois?!
Each is a pice of art in its' own right.
Beautiful photos and great history lesson, Lois.
There is a ship wreck just off the Jupiter Inlet where divers have recovered gold and artifacts.
I've spent so many hours in that place, from childhood til now. It's a good place for an afternoon date, too!
There is something special about these old gold coins...heck, there's something special about old gold...we've got a couple of coins from whatisface who found that big wreck down near Key West. Can't think of his name right now...
Now I remember the name - Mel Fisher!
Actually it was my Lois that remembered - gotta give credit where credit is due!
When I was growing up gold was $32.00 and ounce. I just heard yesterday that it is now over $1,000.00 an ounce. I remember panning for gold in Arizona and was lucky and felt rich to get a couple of ounces. Nowadays that would have been over Two Thousand dollars instead of $64.00. I guess maybe the kids know how much gold is worth. The photos are excellent. The gold coins are stunning.
Very nice pictures. Imagine all the work that went into creating those coins. I guess they didn't have automated pressing machines back then!
Gosh, doesn't everyone have a "gold glove tray"?
Incredible treasure!
Now you have me drooling over cigar boxes!!
Wow, Now that would be wonderful to find. It's amazing how much gold ended up at the bottom of the sea.
These really are amazing. The coins themselves look somewhat beat up and jagged around the edges, but the detail on the coins surprises me. I think you need that glove tray Lois.
Dear Lois, LOVELY photos, but unless things have changed at the R.A. Gray Museum, these beautiful items are NOT real gold originals. These are very well-done facimiles of the actual items which are under lock and key.
I assisted in some of the original photography when Mel fisher's folks first recovered many of these, and the expert archivists at the museum were already casting replicas for display... once they determined that the state was actually getting to keep some of this stuff. It was touch-and-go there for a while.
But... these images are pretty as can be.
Bob O'Lary
Stunning!
Beautiful! Wonderful post, Lois!
After reading the comment about these items being facsimiles, I called the Museum of Florida History and they verified to me that these are all real gold and not replicas. Whew! That's a relief. I was really going to be disappointed if they weren't real.
They are beautiful coins! Glad you found out these are the real thing!
I want the last !! it's gold !!
Hi, Lois--gold is beautiful isn't it? It never tarnishes, just sits and softly gleams. These are just gorgeous photos!
I never knew gloves needed a tray--and what a gorgeous one this is! This would indeed be a wonderful exhibit to wander through, pirates and all!
Amazing gold. I like this post :) Makes the imagination run wild.
amazing indeed!
Looks like Florida and the Philippines has more in common than their weather.
The gold coins are fantastic! And a gold.GLOVE.tray — wow.
I though this are yours. :)
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