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Postcard of treasure hunter Art McKee holding silver bar retrieved from "El Capitana" wreck - Plantation Key, Florida
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Arthur McKee Jr., known as Art "Silver Bar" McKee, was a noted Florida treasure diver for many years and is often referred to as "the father of modern treasure diving." Sometimes called "The Treasure Hunter's Treasure Hunter," McKee pioneered salvage work on historic shipwrecks in the days before scuba diving became popular.
Accompanying note on back of postcard: "Deep sea diver Arthur McKee holding a 75-lb. bar of coral incrusted silver bullion, one of three he recovered from the rotted hull of an ancient Spanish galleon wrecked on a reef 'East of Key Largo'. One bar was purchased by the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, D.C., for $1,000. The remaining bars are on exhibit at McKee's Museum of Sunken Treasure, 5 miles south of Tavernier, Fla., at Treasure Harbor, U.S. 1, on Plantation Key. Glass-in-bottom boat trips enable you to actually view deep sea divers at work at the wreck site of an ancient Spanish galleon! Also the beautiful undersea marine gardens."
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Chicago Manual of Style
Postcard of treasure hunter Art McKee holding silver bar retrieved from "El Capitana" wreck - Plantation Key, Florida. 1900 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/63295>, accessed 14 June 2026.
MLA
Postcard of treasure hunter Art McKee holding silver bar retrieved from "El Capitana" wreck - Plantation Key, Florida. 1900 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/63295>
AP Style Photo Citation
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