Coins From Fisher’s Shop Deemed Fakes
From Times Wire Reports
A raid at a Key West gift shop run by treasure hunter Mel Fisher yielded gold coins that an expert says are modern-day counterfeits--not booty from Spanish galleons that went down off Florida’s coast in 1733. A coin-minting expert from San Diego who was brought in by prosecutors said the 25 coins that investigators seized last week, and two others provided by a suspicious customer, were hand-stamped imitations. Fisher’s company denied the claim and said the coins were authentic. Fisher, 75, has spent decades salvaging Spanish treasures lost off Florida, but some have questioned the authenticity of some of his souvenirs sold nationwide and on the Internet.