Two Men Scanned a Florida Beach, They Found a Rare Treasure That Changes Their Lives

the south Florida coastline is full of turbulent waves but that didn't stop treasure Hunters Cole Smith and Jonah Martinez from passing their metal detectors over the Sandy Shores after walking around for a while their equipment began beeping wildly which indicated that they had stumbled onto something they knew that this object could potentially be worth good money but they never expected to make so much cash Jonah Martinez had spent nearly 25 years looking for treasure in South Florida but this time things were different not only did he have his pal Cole Smith helping him out but he discovered something that had the power to change both of their lives instead of finding a single piece of treasure Martinez found a treasure Trove from the past that could earn him thousands of dollars but these two seemingly successful treasure Hunters had completely different careers Martinez made a living by turning his client's custom car and motorcycle dreams into a reality on the other hand his friend Smith worked as a scuba diving instructor but they both shared the same hobby to search the Florida coastline for Treasure with the use of their metal detectors by 2020 Martinez had invested 25 years on his hobby during that time he had found a number of things like daggers belt buckles flat wear house wear porcelain and even discarded clothes from noblemen but he was really hoping to find some gold in 2015 Martinez joined a crew of treasure Hunters who were exploring Florida's Atlantic Coastline along the way they discovered 300 gold coins worth about $4.5 million would he be able to get that lucky searching on his own according to the newspaper Florida Today Martinez had tears in his eyes as he shared the story of the group Expedition at a press conference he said to find something like that it's like finding a needle in a hay stack at the conference Martinez described himself and his crew of treasure Hunters as hardcore metal detectorists but to him it wasn't all about finding the treasure he said the real treasure is the experience that we all share every summer the stories they'll last forever but what did he do with the treasures he found Martinez didn't like selling the treasures he discovered because he wasn't doing this for money so instead he kept a lot of the items he found for his own collection or he donated them to a museum his philosophy didn't waver during his next find either Martinez told the website TC Palm that the key to finding something valuable relies on the weather helping the ocean's hidden treasure wash ashore the summer of 2017 yielded little results and yet he wasn't ready to give up Martinez needed a win which finally came in 2020 and luckily for him he wasn't alone when he finally struck gold this time he and his friend Smith headed to wabaso beach with their metal detectors where age-old relics waited to be discovered wabaso Beach is part of Florida's Treasure Coast which spans four other counties St Lucy Martin Palm Beach and Indian River the coast was nicknamed Treasure Coast for a very good reason in 18 61 locals started finding relics in the waters off of these counties eventually experts discovered that the treasure came from a fleet of 18th century Spanish ships that were filled with gold in Cuba and sent on a course towards Spain but they never made it to their destination the ships headed out on July 24th 1715 but the crew encountered a hurricane along the way that destroyed the 11 vessels 700 Sailors perished and 14 million pesos worth of precious metals and jewels went down with them and the memory of that tragedy remains evident along the Florida coastline over the years remnants of the vessels turned up along the 40m coastline it took another major storm for the treasure to surface in the 1950s then a local named Kip Wagner found a silver coin and it became clear that this came from one of those legendary sunken ships as time went on the Treasure Coast Area attracted lots of amateur treasure Hunters but it was Martinez and Smith who made a major Discovery Martinez and Smith used metal detectors to search wabaso Beach on February 28th 20020 during their search their detectors went wild the men started plucking one piece after another and eventually had almost two dozen relics of the famous wreck but Smith had a weird way of confirming their authenticity Martinez told TV channel cbs2 we found 22 beautiful Spanish coins from the 1715 treasure shipwreck that were all hammered struck Smith told the TV outlet that the easiest way to verify how long the currency had been underwater was by doing this you can lick it and taste the saltwater but would they become rich thanks to this epic historical Discovery the resale price tag for these coins was fairly decent in fact Smith and Martinez could have made about $6,000 for the 22 coins they found but they reiterated to the news outlet that they weren't looking for financial compensation so what was their endgame what did they plan on doing with the coins Martinez could have made some serious cash from the 300-year-old currency but then he explained this is our history out here we are not trying to profit out here we are just collecting pieces of History that's cool if you ask me but apparently Florida laws could have landed the pair in hot water if they tried to sell these coins according to Florida law treasure Hunters searching at Sea must have a permit before looking for anything in the state-owned coastal area and anything found gets financially split between Florida and the hunters so when Martinez found $4.5 million in Treasure in 2015 the state would have kept about 20% of the money from their Discovery but that's not what happened in 2020 Martinez and Smith lucked out in 2020 because the coins had washed up on the beaches making them public domain so the duo didn't have to file any paperwork before they went on their treasure hunt and nothing they found fell under State jurisdiction Martinez is always looking for new ways to hone in on his metal detecting skills so that each session along the Florida coast will provide better results he even told the newspaper USA Today I know how to read the beach and I'm always trying to increase my odds of finding something but did he at least clean the coins up Martinez wants to leave the 22 coins exactly how he found them which means he won't try to polish them or improve the way they look he told TC Palm it's a passion it's the thrill of the hunt that I love he doesn't mind attracting more treasure Hunters to the Treasure Coast but there is one condition he knew that it was only a matter of time before his past and future treasure hunting sessions would attract others to the local beaches and he was fine with it but he would prefer to beat everyone to the punch Martinez isn't looking for profit but he wouldn't mind grabbing headlines for being the one who finds some incredible trinkets along the Treasure Coast he told cbs2 you don't know what you're going to find we love to be the guys who find treasure that was lost at sea more than 300 years ago and he's not afraid of letting some Treasures go on his Facebook Martinez wrote The Following in regards to the coins he found it's time to let go of my little buddies friends have been asking me for a while now about buying some nice coins so he's put a couple of the coins up for sale so others can bask in their history and their wealth