Odyssey Marine Exploration has discovered two more shipwrecks in the north Atlantic Ocean, the company announced this week. The Florida-based underwater salvage company filed admiralty claims for exclusive salvage rights in Tampa federal court Wednesday and released a public statement Friday.

According to Odyssey, the two shipwrecks are steel-hulled, and as yet unidentified. The company said the sites are believed to contain "valuable cargo," that is "beyond the territorial waters or contiguous zone of any sovereign nation" and over 300 miles from the entrance to the English Channel.

Court documents indicate one site is 400 meters below water while the other is 600 meters under, with both resting some 100 miles of the southwest coast of Ireland.

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The U.S. dollar retreated against the backdrop of unexpectedly poorer unemployment numbers reported on Friday. After, New York gold and platinum futures climbed 0.3 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. Silver fell 0.9 percent.

Oil inched slightly higher following two previous day loses. December crude gained 27 cents, or 0.4 percent, to close to $61.04 a barrel. However, the contract has lost $6.77, or 10 percent from last Friday, and touched an intraday low of $59.97.

December silver lost 9.2 cents to end at $9.963 an ounce.

January platinum recovered a portion of Thursday’s $41.70 loss, gaining $13.70 to settle at $852 an ounce.

Gold for December rose for the first time in three days. The yellow metal posted a small gain of $2 to close to $734.20 an ounce.

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New Quarter-Dollars Brought Uncle Sam Billions – 25 Cents at a Time

The Hawaii state commemorative quarter-dollars that go into circulation starting November 10 may provide the public with yet another opportunity to find a mini fortune in their pocket change.  They also end a resoundingly successful ten-year program that helped reduce the federal budget deficit by billions of dollars – 25 cents at a time,  according to David L. Ganz, author of the just-published book by Random House, America’s State Quarters.

Ganz urges people to carefully look at their pocket change because some of the state quarters can be worth between $100 and more than $1,000 each because of minting mistakes.

"For example, some of the Wisconsin state quarters made in 2004 have an extra leaf on the cornstalk on the tail’s side, and those are selling for over $100 each now.  Other state quarters, mistakenly struck on the wrong metal blanks, have sold for $1,000 or more.  It will be interesting to see what potentially valuable mistakes and varieties people may find with the Hawaii quarter when it goes into circulation," said Ganz, a former President of the American Numismatic Association.

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