"After Spain's colonial American mints poured forth a flood of silver coins, some of that treasure ended up in wrecks off the Florida coast. Alan Craig's captivating study explains how those coins were made and what historians and numismatists can learn from them."--Kendall W. Brown, Brigham Young University "The State of Florida is indeed fortunate that its colonial coin inventory, Florida's shipwreck patrimony, could be studied by Alan Craig. This work enriches us all."--Eugene Lyon, author of The Enterprise of Florida: Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the Spanish Conquest of 1565-1568 and The Search for the Atocha The State of Florida owns a vast collection, nearly 23,000 specimens, of Spanish treasure coins salvaged from shipwrecks in Florida waters. It is the largest of its kind in existence. Alan Craig explains the circumstances behind their manufacture and describes the transporting of these unique hand-made coins, a complicated business full of intrigue and royal regulations. When freshly minted gold and silver left the Spanish colonial viceroyalties of Peru and Mexico aboard fleets of galleons headed to Spain, a number of ships sank off the coast of Florida. Counterfeiting was rife at the time, and Craig discusses a variety of mint scandals, especially those perpetrated by the notorious Francisco Gomez de la Rocha. Craig also analyzes coins from the mints of Mexico City, Potosi, Lima, and elsewhere. He follows the procedure of making coins, from mining the silver to refining it and ultimately converting it into coins of various sizes, and takes readers on a vivid "virtual" visit to a mint where they watch African slaves pour molten silver from furnaces into special molds and witness the days of constant hammering, annealing, die striking, blanching, weighing, and counting and recounting necessary to produce a sack of coins. Outstanding specimens from the Florida collection are depicted in numerous superb photographs, many enlarged to show elements of the engraving discussed in the text. In a final section Craig discusses the numismatic significance of the thousands of coins in the collection. As both an economic history and a numismatic study, this work will be a fascinating resource for historians, archaeologists, coin collectors, and general readers interested in maritime treasure. Alan K. Craig is professor emeritus of geography and geology at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and coeditor of In Quest of Mineral Wealth.

From the foreword: "It has been a great comfort over the years to know that Alan Craig was always able and willing to guide the growth of the Florida Collection and provide sound numismatic counsel. His knowledge of the collection is based on years of experience and personal examination of each and every coin. It is a pleasure to be able to present once again a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the Florida Collection of Gold Coins."--James J. Miller, state archaeologist and chief, Bureau of Archaeological Research Dazzling numismatic treasures await readers of this new volume that catalogues and characterizes the splendors of the Florida Collection of Spanish Coins. An updated version of the author's earlier publication, Gold Coins of the 1715 Spanish Fleet (now out of print), it includes more than 100 new additions to the collection. The publication of Spanish Colonial Gold Coins in the Florida Collection (alongside its recently released companion, Spanish Colonial Silver Coins in the Florida Collection) makes available Florida's magnificent collection of Spanish coins in richly detailed photographs accompanied by vivid descriptions. Presented in accordance with current numismatic standards of description, analysis, and publication, Alan Craig's account of the coins goes far beyond ordinary standards to bring alive the history of the coins' production, transport, and loss at sea. The perfect guide to this treasure-house, Craig's book conveys the importance and fascination of the largest known collection of Spanish colonial shipwreck coins in the world. For collectors, scholars, and everyone else who has ever been fascinated by Spanish treasure fleets, this book offers countless hours of enjoyment and information. Alan K. Craig is professor emeritus of geography and geology at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and coeditor of In Quest of Mineral Wealth. He is also the author of a companion volume, Spanish Colonial Silver Coins in the Florida Collection.

Colonial Latin America was famed for the precious metals plundered by the conquistadores and the gold and silver extracted from its mines. Historians and economists have attempted to determine the amount of bullion produced and its impact on the colonies themselves and the emerging early-modern world economy. Using official tax and mintage records, this book provides decade-by-decade and often annual data on the amount of gold and silver officially refined and coined in the treasury and mint districts of Spanish and Portuguese America. It also places American bullion output within the context of global production and addresses the issue of contraband production and bullion smuggling. The book is thus an invaluable source for evaluating the rise of the early-modern economy.

The Hillsborough River, which runs through the big population area of Tampa, is a popular site for leisure activities. Kevin McCarthy, author of more than 20 books about Florida, guides the reader and boater from the source of the Hillsborough River in the Green Swamp west of Tampa, through Hillsborough River State Park, then through the city of Tampa, to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico. Both a history and a guidebook, "Hillsborough River Guidebook" features information on the wildlife and culture along the river as well as travel tips, with recommendations of places to eat and stay. Includes photographs and maps. The other books available in the series are "Suwannee River Guidebook" and "St. Johns River Guidebook."

Twentieth-century sleuthing methods are linked with the romance and mystery of the past in this true story of a treasure hunt that has yielded millions. Over 250 years ago a Spanish treasure armada was wrecked on the Florida reefs, and ten richly laden vessels were sunk. In time they were forgotten. In the l 940's Kip Wagner, then a Florida construction man, picked up the first clues to the location of the wrecked ships. They were scarce: occasional blackened silver coins discovered here and there along the beach. But Kip Wagner's imagination was fired, and with the help of his friend and physician, Dr. Kelso, he began the long research and search operations that are described in this engrossing book. They were joined by a small group of other men and formed the Real Eight Corporationappropriately named for the Spanish ocho reales, or piece of eight. Most of the team had other jobs, some of them at nearby Cape Kennedy, and could hunt treasure only in their spare time. But they persisted. The work was arduous, at times dangerous. There were setbacks, disappointments, grueling underwater ordeals. But in time the rewards were sensational -thousands of silver pieces of eight and golden doubloons, silver bars and bullion, gold ingots, gold rings and pendants, priceless Chinese porcelain, a gold necklace appraised by a museum at $50,000, three million dollars in treasure recovered so far by this band of hard-working, adventurous, persistent men.

Ghost Galleon tells the story of archaeologists’ twenty-year search on a desolate beach in Baja California for the enigmatic remains of a Spanish galleon that disappeared without a trace more than four centuries ago. Carrying a cargo of Asian riches to the New World, Manila galleons forged the final link in the unification of the world through commerce by their annual voyages across the Pacific Ocean. Here, author Edward Von der Porten relates how a chance viewing of Chinese porcelain sherds in a museum catalog led him, his wife Saryl, and a team of researchers to the beachcombers who discovered the sherds. To Von der Porten, these sherds represented the possibility of something much more significant: one of the earliest known Manila galleon shipwrecks on the West Coast. In collaboration with the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH), Von der Porten and his colleagues undertook the first of many archaeological expeditions to investigate the site in 1999. Over twenty years, a team of American and Mexican archaeologists recovered thousands of artifacts and concluded that they had located the remains of the cargo from a Spanish galleon—most likely the San Juanillo of 1578. This copiously illustrated, highly accessible work offers an inside view of how archaeologists carefully assemble the evidence that allows scientific reconstruction of past events. Despite the grudging resistance of time, Von der Porten and his colleagues have resurrected the tale of the ill-fated San Juanillo to enrich our understanding and appreciation of the past.