1 Million Dollars In Confederate Gold Found On Sunken Ship!

[DJ Psychomike]

For years growing up in the South I heard of the "lost Confederate gold" and missing Confederate money. Turns out, the stories did have some truth behind them!

An 1846 shipwreck 60 miles off the coast of Louisiana has yielded $1 million in sunken treasure comprised of U.S. gold coins from Southern U.S. mints and a nearly complete Capped Bust set.

Recovery of the coins was announced May 13 by a group from New Iberia, La., called the Gentlemen of Fortune, which identified the SS New York in 2006 off the coast of Cameron, La., in 60 feet of water.

"This is the most important group of Southern gold coins ever found on a treasure ship. There are some of the finest known quarter eagles and half eagles struck in Charlotte and Dahlonega, as well as examples of gold coins struck at the New Orleans Mint," said prominent numismatic researcher and author Q. David Bowers, co-chairman of Stack's of New York City.

"They include an 1845-D $2.50 graded NGC MS-64; 1844-D $5 graded NGC MS-63* prooflike; and an 1844-O $5 graded NGC MS-64. There's also a nearly complete set of Capped Bust halves with over two dozen different dates, including an 1815, and quite a few foreign gold coins as well," said John Albanese, a dealer from Far Hills, N.J., who appraised them.

A complete inventory of the recovered coins will be released later, according to Albanese. Information about the planned sale of some of the coins in a public auction by Stack's also will be announced later.



"I'm very proud of the comprehensive services that we provide for shipwreck recovery coinage," said Mark Salzberg, NGC chairman.

Long known by shrimpers as an underwater obstruction, the ship was identified for what it was by the New Iberia group which found the 365-ton wooden hulled ship two years ago. The four members of Gentlemen of Fortune are Gary and Reneè Hebert, Avery Munson and Craig DeRouen.

"We brought up the ship's bell in the summer of 2006, staked a claim and obtained a federal court judgment granting us title to the site, then brought up several hundred coins from the underwater mud last year. We recently sent them to Numismatic Conservation Services and Numismatic Guaranty Corporation for certification," said DeRouen.



There were 53 passengers and crew members on board for a trip from Galveston to New Orleans when the New York went down during a storm in September 1846. Everyone evacuated the ship; however, 17 died later while clinging to pieces of floating wreckage for two days before the SS Galveston picked up 36 survivors.

http://numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=4430

[Borderruffian]

It's not Confederate Gold. The vessel went down in 1846, the Confederate States did not exisit. So how do you make the leap to making this missing Confederate Gold?

[larry_cockerham]

Yep, just cause it was made in Charlotte and New Orleans, don't make it Confederate. They certainly could have used it, however. I believe you referred to it as Southern? Why do you think so? This is a very informative and interesting post, by the way. Thank you!

[DJ Psychomike]

Now that we know the origin: LET'S FIGHT FOR THE SOUTH!

[unionblue]

DJ,

1. It's still not confederate gold.

2. Why not fight for all of us instead of just one section of the UNITED States?

Unionblue

[larry_cockerham]

Originally Posted by unionblue

DJ,

1. It's still not confederate gold.

2. Why not fight for all of us instead of just one section of the UNITED States?

Unionblue

The South can always use some promotion. That's how we entice them yankees down here to pay our exhorbitant retail taxes to send our young'uns to school and pave all these fine new roads. The 'fight' was over in 1865. We all lost.

[unionblue]

Originally Posted by larry_cockerham

The South can always use some promotion. That's how we entice them yankees down here to pay our exhorbitant retail taxes to send our young'uns to school and pave all these fine new roads. The 'fight' was over in 1865. We all lost.

The South has already good too good of a promotion department, hence the exploding population of the region and the decrease in population of the northern one!

Plus, for every new taxpayer you get, I get his burden of the taxes he leaves behind!

I agree the 'fight' was over in 1865, but I tend to think we all won.

Until I move down south,
Unionblue

[larry_cockerham]

Originally Posted by unionblue

The South has already good too good of a promotion department, hence the exploding population of the region and the decrease in population of the northern one!

Plus, for every new taxpayer you get, I get his burden of the taxes he leaves behind!

I agree the 'fight' was over in 1865, but I tend to think we all won.

Until I move down south,
Unionblue

Oops! I only meant to imply that we recruit 'em for the weekend, long enough to stiff them for substandard motel rooms, take 'em to the Opry, feed 'em some overpriced food and then we shuttle them home as soon as possible.

Yes, there are a few snowbirds still coming down to nest, looking for jobs in our shinny auto plants and supply companies. You'll have to blame that one on corporate America being too lazy to maintain their facilities or unwilling to rebuild. Guess the unions had a hand in that as well.
All in all, we like you northern folks.

I remember the old Raleigh saying: "Yankees are like hemorhoids, if they come down and go back up, it's an irritation, but something you can live with. When they come down and stay down, that's when they're a pain in the ***."

Of course that was written by a person who hadn't met all yankees, just the ones in Raleigh. We here in Tennessee welcome Midwesterners from the north. A different breed from the eastern variety.

[DJ Psychomike]

[font=Arial][size=2]The Cult of the Presidency: America’s Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power

EDITED OUT. MODERN POLITICAL RANT. NOT ON MY WATCH, DJ.

ole