Chapter 320: Covered
Leaving the shallow area of Silver Island, we came to the area that the chief leader had searched for photos in the Internet before, a reef that looked like a large ship.
In fact, it is a ship, but it is too old and has merged with the land. The outside is covered with a layer of solid stone, as well as algae, shells, barnacles and the like.
The huge reef inside the hull is most likely filled with seabed mud and sand, and it may not be an empty shell, but the silver coins inside must have been washed away long ago. Those silver and gold coins are scattered all over the island and even other shallows, or deep water areas hundreds of meters below, making the search very difficult.
I searched for topics related to Silver Island and found that there are also periods of high and low tides on the island. Now is the golden time of the day, which is low tide time, and tourists can also explore these areas.
Zhang Ailun took out his mobile phone and took a picture. He could see that there was sea water in some puddles. In areas where green algae grew, he could see crabs, fish, shrimps and other seafood next to the stones.
Many people were there focusing on their cameras to take selfies, and some even pulled over members of the Gewu guerrillas next to them to take pictures. The Gewu guerrillas accepted everyone who came, with an AK hanging around their necks, raising two fingers, showing their big white teeth, and grinning foolishly in front of the camera.
Judging from their skin color and racial features, they are also Indo-European hybrids. After all, Colombia and Mexico were also inhabited by Indians in the early days. They were the pioneers of South America, and there are traces of Indians on almost all the islands and continents of North and South America.
After the Age of Exploration and the influence of European colonization, Europeans intermarried with the locals, and the people who remained were basically mixed-race.
They have European features and generally do not have body odor, but most of them look neither white nor yellow. The Latin American race is actually the descendants of criminals and mixed races who were exiled during the Columbus period. Their bloodlines include blacks, yellows, and whites, and are varied. They cannot be considered a separate race.
The honest guy from the Gewu guerrillas is actually not stupid, but very smart. He just took a photo with the tourists and then started asking the tourists for $20 as performance fee.
The tourists were not surprised by this. Those who could come here and pay the entrance fee were basically rich or noble, and they were people with some wealth. In addition to private self-driving tours, there were also tour groups coming here.
We just discussed and argued for a while, then gave him a discount and gave him $15.
The other party took the money, gave a thumbs up, spoke in a broken combination of English and Spanish, turned around and left with satisfaction, and continued to smile at other passengers while standing at his post, looking for the next person with Yuan Yuan.
During this period, the chief leader also saw several passenger planes landing on the airport runway. The tour guide got off the plane, holding a small flag and a banner, and communicated with the staff. He also took the ticket and passed the inspection, rented some metal detection equipment, and their travel agency should have paid in advance online.
"No wonder the guerrillas don't sell drugs anymore. They can make a lot of money from collecting entrance fees every day. They don't have to spend a lot of money to maintain the island, and there is no risk. After all, the main focus is on the original ecology. At most, they will send a few people to station here to maintain order. They can make money without doing anything."
Zhang Ailun sighed. He also felt that the popularity of this tourist island was even stronger than he had imagined. If he wanted to take it, he would probably have to ask for help from many people and find a lot of connections.
"Boss, stop talking about whether it makes money or not. I don't know when this broken equipment was manufactured. It's so difficult to use."
Bailey walked over complaining and said with disdain, "I looked over there for a long time but didn't see any silver or gold. Finally I found something, but it's a can zipper."
He pulled out a handful of metal scraps and can scraps from his pocket.
People say foreigners are well-mannered. What kind of well-mannered do they have? There is garbage everywhere and this is still a tourist attraction!
Old Jack said with little interest: "Their detection equipment is too backward. They basically won't let passengers use their own professional equipment. They need to report in advance before they are allowed to use it. We didn't bring any detection tools this time, so it's basically impossible for us to find anything valuable."
"The key is that these people don't have the quality yet."
Bailey was so angry that he took off his shoes and showed his punctured heel to the chief leader. "Look, I walked around barefoot and almost got tetanus! Their staff just stood there and watched. They don't even pick up the trash on weekdays. I feel like I'm not here to hunt for treasure, but to help them clean up waste metal and garbage!"
"Isn't there a silver coin?"
Zhang Ailun noticed the broken Spanish coin in his hand, took it and took a look, and found that it was also a double-column silver dollar made by Spain during the South American colonial period. It was circulated at an early time and was almost spread all over the world.
It was not until around 1823 that Mexico broke free from Spanish colonial rule and stopped minting and supplying double-column silver coins in large quantities. Instead, it was replaced by Mexico's own Eagle silver coins. As a result, the Spanish silver coin gradually declined and withdrew from the market in the early nineteenth century.
"It's not a complete silver coin, and it's not valuable. Even if it contains 90% silver, it's not worth much. The price of silver itself is not valuable."
Bailey looked at the number of customers on Silver Island. If not a thousand, there must be at least eight hundred. He calculated in his mind and said seriously, "They make more money in a day than robbing a bank!"
"Let's go and have a look at other places. I need to take a few more photos. Just treat yourself as a normal traveler." Zhang Ailun reminded them, and then took Old Jack to another rainforest area.
As soon as I arrived here, I saw the shed built by the Colombian guerrillas. A few honest guys were sitting there drinking coffee. There was also a German in a suit and tie with a mustache who was keeping accounts in a small notebook. Next to him were people queuing up to exchange their silver coins for cash. Everyone's face was filled with the joy of making money for free.
Zhang Ailan motioned Bailey to go over and talk to them. Bailey walked over and found a middle-aged couple and asked them about their harvest.
"Not bad. The island just experienced a period of low tide, and many treasure hiding places in the rain forest were washed out. We also dug out a box of silver coins." The middle-aged traveler enthusiastically took out the treasure he had found, which looked like a modern handicraft.
After opening it, it was full of dried mud and a few silver coins covered in dust.
Bailey gave them a meaningful look. Why did this thing look so fake?
"Are you American? Is this your first time here?" the middle-aged couple started talking again.
"That's right. My friend and I learned about Silver Island on the Internet and have always wanted to come and see it in person. So, we took advantage of our vacation time and simply flew here for a trip." Bailey also replied.
"That's great. We are Cubans. We are here for tourism as well."
They chatted and laughed with each other for a while, and when it was their turn in the queue, Bailey greeted them and went back to the chief leader.
"Boss, I feel like all the people here are hired by them."
Bailey couldn't help but complain in a low voice: "That box is obviously a modern artifact. Maybe the guerrillas secretly dug a hole and buried it at night. How could the buried wooden box be washed out by the tide? Did they think it was a flood? It was an 18th century shipwreck, more than years ago. The wood would have rotted away long ago. How could it be preserved so well? It looks fake at first glance!"
"Except for the people on this island, everything else is fake and is used to fool people. Our tickets are given in vain." Bailey was speechless.
"I don't think so. There must be silver and gold coins, but ordinary people can't find where they are buried, unless the entire island is turned upside down. But that's a big project. No one can do it without hundreds of millions of dollars. It's totally not worth it." Zhang Ailun smiled. Even blowing up a building costs millions, let alone blowing up a mountain? What if the silver coins are blown to pieces?
Then he said, "Give me the instrument, and I will go into the rain forest with Old Jack to take a look."
Bailey immediately handed over the shovel, metal detector and helmet to the chief. Zhang Allen called Old Jack, put on black rubber shoes, and the two walked into the rain forest.
Although it was sunny and windy outside, the rainforest was damp and hot, with lush branches and leaves, and it was stuffy as hell.
Zhang Ailun took out his mobile phone and took a look at the treasure location, then went on foot to explore according to the current coordinates. After walking for about ten minutes, the instrument in Old Jack's hand suddenly rang.
Looking back at a rotten wooden pile that was so big that two people could hug it, Old Jack tried to dig it twice with a military shovel. Mud and underground fresh water mixed with sea water seeped out from the grass roots and rotten leaves.
Old Jack looked at the gushing water forming an inverted vortex, which would normally only occur when there was a blockage or a stone. He immediately became interested and rolled up his sleeves, ready to dig hard. But before he could swing the shovel twice, he hit something hard with a clang.
Old Jack rummaged around a bit, then reached out his hand suspiciously and pulled out an aluminum-foil alloy iron box. He threw it on the ground and saw a few scattered silver coins inside.
He was speechless. Was it so easy to dig up silver coins?
"Can they make the fakery more obvious?" Old Jack sighed. He had just gotten excited, but it was suddenly extinguished.
"Don't say that. This island is actually only this small. There are at least hundreds of thousands of silver coins and tens of thousands of gold coins. You might find silver coins even if you step on them casually."
Zhang Ailun joked: "They are so conscientious and gave you emotional value, how can you accuse them of being fake?"
I studied the aluminum box again, and it turned out to be a canned luncheon meat box from World War II!
My old baby is so happy. He traveled through time and space. The veterans of World War II traveled back to the 18th century and buried silver coins and aluminum cans here!
It is simply one of the eight wonders of the world!
Although Old Jack said that, he still picked up a few silver coins covered with mud, wiped them clean, and put them in his pocket. "It would be a waste if I didn't take them. If they take them back, they should at least give me a dozen dollars!"
These silver coins are from old actors, and I don’t know how many times they have passed through hands.
The island's business model is that the silver coins dug by the guests are collected and buried here, waiting for the next person to come. If you say that there are millions of silver coins dug, he will believe it! It is simply an endless mountain of silver.
The chief leader smiled and was not very interested in these silver coins. The silver coins were definitely real, but judging from their appearance, they were not worth anything at all.
The appearance and preservation condition of the Spanish double-column silver coin will directly affect its value. A good-quality one may be worth between US$1500 and US$2000, or even tens of thousands of dollars as a collectible.
If it was the horn coin that the chief leader sold to Madison, just one of them would be worth millions of dollars.
However, this kind of silver coin with historical significance is hard to come by. Even if the quality of those hundreds of thousands of silver coins is very poor, there should always be some silver coins of rare quality.
The silver coins in front of us are of average quality. If they have stamps or damage, their value will be greatly reduced, and the price range is usually from a few dollars to tens of dollars. But they are still more valuable than US dollars.
According to the actual value of hundreds of thousands of silver coins, even if half of them are worn and worthless, as long as a small part is well preserved, the overall value is likely to easily exceed 5 million US dollars!
The reason why it will not exceed one billion US dollars is mainly because of currency inflation. Once a large number of Spanish silver coin collections appear on the market, the originally valuable silver coins will become less valuable.
As for those tens of thousands of gold coins, they are extremely valuable.
18世纪中叶至19世纪中叶的金币，，，总重3克到26克左右，一枚金币重量普遍大多都在8克或以上。
Even if it is sold at the pure gold price, it can easily be worth hundreds of millions of dollars!
The actual value of this shipwreck treasure is conservatively estimated to be at least US$10 billion.
Although it is known that these Spanish silver and gold coins are very valuable, it is useless because many people cannot find where the treasure is.
Many people know that the Federal Reserve bank vaults have a large amount of gold reserves, that Colonel Kamagra left behind a large arsenal during his lifetime, and that the Medellin Cartel has tens of billions of stolen money, so much that they have to dig holes all over the ground to bury the money.
But can those treasure hunters get these things? Not at all! Because they can't find them at all.
Zhang Ailun took Old Jack to continue exploring the rain forest of Silver Island. During the period, they occasionally gained some things and got a few Spanish silver coins of average quality.
However, the main purpose was to come here to check out the place and take photos. The two walked and stopped, and came to an anchor area, which was a huge group of bushes and trees, as well as a swampy mud pit with stagnant water. Zhang Ailun tried to use detection equipment to detect it, but there was no response at all.
"It seems like no one comes here." Zhang Ailun was a little surprised.
Perhaps because they were buried deep underground in the swamp, it was difficult to obtain those Spanish silver coins.
Drain the water and dig up the mud, and there will definitely be silver coins underneath.
"Because there are crocodiles!" Old Jack looked carefully and found the creatures in the swamp, lurking in the mud motionlessly.
"Don't move!" Just as the chief was about to say something, Old Jack raised his hand to stop him.
Old Jack looked at it eagerly, put the detection instrument in his hand on the ground, rolled up his sleeves, unbuckled his belt, took it out, held it in his hand, and tiptoed over.
Zhang Ailun looked at his actions in doubt and immediately dissuaded him: "What are you going to do? Kill the single crocodile alone? I advise you not to be impulsive! It has blood rage!"
(End of this chapter)
