An unusual present got Art Ballesteros, Salinas's resident, for Christmas. He was able to discover a genuine Spanish silver coin dated back to the 16th century. The place where Art found the coins represents an isolated beach located near San Francisco.
"It was a Christmas present not only for myself but also for California. The coin is extremely valuable," stated Art.
According to Ballesteros, he went to visit his brother, who lives in San Francisco. When the Christmas Day arrived, both Art and his brother started searching for treasures, a passion both had since childhood. Art and Michael took their metal detector and went to the beach to start scanning.
Ballesteros was equipped with a powerful $600 White metal detector that helped him (only after 100 minutes) to find a coin with almost the same size as a quarter. The coin was hidden in the sand. Art unearthed the coin, cleaned it and decide to have a look at it. Then he exclaimed "I never saw anything so old."
Despite the fact that fighting with leukemia slowed him down, he still looks forward to go to the beach again and again when he feels strong and continue his hobby that attracted him ever since he was as a kid. Christmas Day turned out to be one of those strong days.
"A good treasure hunter knows where to look. I'm not digging for nothing," said Art.
According to Rusty Goe of Nevada, who has been a coin expert for 27 years, in case the coin was found in good condition, the silver treasure might be valued at up to $50,000. However, the coin had a far from perfect condition and its value might be between $50 and $3,000.
Rusty Goe, currently working at South Gate Claim in Reno, Nev., analyzed the coin that Ballesteros found by considering the picture offered by The Salinas Californian. "The unfortunate thing about this one is that it is damaged," stated the expert.
It seems like the ocean totally damaged the structure of the coin. However, taking into consideration his rich experience, Goe said that it is quite possible that the genuine coin was hand-made.
Goe mentioned that the final step in deciding the coin's worth would be the analyses of several factors such as weight.
It is worth noting that the largest denomination among all Spanish silver coins dating back to 1500s was Reales. These coins were in circulation in the United States until 1780s, when the U.S. began striking its own coins.
chris