Shipwreck Treasure at Auction

Early Spanish colonial gold tumbaga bar weighing 1.816 kilograms with a marked fineness of 5.75 karat. The bar realized a price of $50,575 on a $35,000 and up estimate. The bar was one of thirteen gold ingots recovered from the “Tumbaga wreck” which sank around 1528.  Surfaces of the bar bear the tax stamps in the name of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor who also ruled over Spain at the time.

A high-grade silver bar weighing 92 troy pounds, 3.84 troy ounces that was recovered from the wreck of the Atocha, sunk in 1622 off Key West, Florida sold for $57,715 on a $30,000 and up estimate. The bar was graded Class Factor 1.0, the highest grade given to Atocha silver bars, despite spending 300 years on the ocean floor. This group of 1617-dated gold cob 2 escudos brought $33,320.