I’m not a professional jeweler, just more of a hobbyist for now and recently I have been curious about treasure coin replicas. I live near the 1715 wrecks here in Florida and when I was a high school kid in the 90’s I used to go to Kempf’s jewelers and buy small hand fulls of the broken or small badly oxidized silver coins from the 1715 fleet for very little money at that time. The full size coins are really cool though and recently I wanted to make my own replica which leads me to this question first:
What is the deal with treasure coin replicas being so saturated in the market but I have never seen a wax mold or wax model for sale? You can’t throw a rock without hitting a treasure coin replica for sale in probably a 1000 jewelry stores in Florida and yet I never have seen molds or wax models for sale. Do people hoard these or did each store buy one from another and then make molds? I bet there is a whole book to be written about that! LOL
Not finding any I decided to make my own replica from scratch. I used photos of both sides of an Escudo. Then I made black and white “alpha” images of them to use in a 3d molding program I’ve been learning called “Zbrush”.
In Zbrush, I made the coin 3d and added a rope around it plus some small square embellishments. Then I had it 3D printed with a quality Poly Jet printer… cast it in Argentium… and gave it to my wife.
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Nice Rick
What do you want for a Wax shipped to me in new zealand
Les
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Perhaps I’ve misunderstood the question, but why not simply buy a coin and mold it yourself (or have another jeweler do it)?
Hi, thanks for the compliment/request! I think we could easily work that out. I’m returning home in a few days and I’ll private message you asap ( I’m on a phone right now and can’t really type).
That’s probably what all the Jewelers did so thanks for the idea but It’s a bit unethical to me to buy a coin and copy it without permission. I like to be on the safe side 
.
My apologies. I didn’t type that clearly. I did not mean to suggest that you buy a copy of a coin and then mold it yourself (thereby copying another jeweler), but rather buy an original coin and then mold it.
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Oh, I see no worries. Great idea! The full 8 reales silver coins are 800 bucks now. So 800 is a lot of money to me but your idea is solid and the best one.
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“Shipwreck Coins” is a rip off in the coin business. Depending on condition, date of issue etc, a non -shipwreck 8 Reales coin can cost as low as $ 27.50. Melt price is even less. Admittedly these are the bottom of the collection range, and a good piece, which was collectable would cost you as much as 10 times more. Still a lot less than a “shipwreck” coin. A lot of “shipwreck coins” get made by leaving them in saltwater for a week or two, and this shoots their value up, for some reason. I’ve never seen a “shipwreck coin” yet with a really verifiable provenience. If you like 8 Reales coins, look around for one you like at the next coin show in your area, bargain like heck, and make you mold for it.
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I’m not sure you are aware of the very large 1715 Spanish feel wrecks here in Melbourne Beach Florida? There are thousands, maybe 10’s of thousands of silver coins that washed up on the beach over the years and was found out in the water in addition to gold escudos. It’s not hard to purchase those coins but even the silver ones cost 800 dollars sometimes. We find some of the coins after hurricanes, they are not that rare.
All of the jewelers I know and see are honest about all of their replicas here in Florida. I’m not sure where you are seeing all the dishonesty.
I’m aware of Spanish wreck in the Caribbean, though not your beach specifically. What I am talking about is the coins themselves. Whether they come from a wreck or you buy them from a deal, its the same coin.
Given that precisely the same coins can be bought without a romantic story for a fraction of the price the honest jewelers of Florida charge for their supposed “shipwreck coins”, if I was going to make a replica, I would buy from a dealer.
But if they do drift up that much on the local beach, my next thought would be to buy a metal detector and start searching the sands.
There are two waxes of treasure coins available…somewhere. I know this
because I purchased them, but I can’t remember where I got them!
Look for “pirate coin” instead of “treasure coin” and you’ll find them.
I found one at this site:
http://www.waxpatterns.com/2014%20Website/Red%20Catalog/Red%20Catalog%20Page%2054.html
It’s the left hand model in row 6. Sorry, I can’t link directly to that
model’s photo because of the way the site is set up.
I also found these which are similar to the ones I have, although I know
I did not get them there:
The detail on the waxes I bought was not the best so I improved them
with some time spent with the wax pen and build-up wax.
–Kathy Johnson
Feathered Gems Jewelry
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wow, Kathy. Your google/search skills exceed mine and thank you for that! And I’m a Virtual School educator by day so thanks for showing I should try harder searching myself next time.
In the end, it looks like my poly jet printed models I make on the computer are going to look much better as long as I find a suitable texture/worn look I liked added. I’ll post that soon.
I am making a new version where it is “clipped” like the original cob coins, at least the silver ones were. I just have to add a texture like it’s been in the ocean for a while.
I sent you a private message about your request. Have a good day.
