The Trouble With Treasure

Has a legendary adventurer been selling counterfeit antiques?

Ever since he discovered what he claimed was $400 million in sunken treasure in 1985 off the coast of Key West, Fla., Mel Fisher has been no stranger to controversy. It visited him again last week when a Florida coin expert determined that a number of coins being sold through Fisher's museum were fakes. The county attorney has warned concerned customers that others may be too. The coins, purportedly taken from a Spanish galleon fleet lost in a hurricane off the Florida Keys in 1733, are genuine gold but not necessarily authentic, even though buyers received certificates from Fisher and his...

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