Gold Bullion recovered from sunken Spanish galleons "Nusestra Señora de Atocha," "Santa Margarita" and "Buen Jesus"
Ingots are marked with a variety of stamps, including circular tax stamps, mintmarks, Roman numerals to signify the purity of the gold in karats, and Arabic numerals denoting their weight. Marks are located in several areas on the ingots so that when they were cut to a desired weight the pieces would still bear some portion of the official stamps.
According to their manifests, the “Atocha” carried 125 gold ingots, discs and bits, and the “Margarita” had 34 pieces. Over 220 ingots have been recovered from these ships to date, suggesting at least 60 pieces were contraband. Smuggled ingots bear no tax stamps only Roman and Arabic numerals. There are two in this case, the far left and right.
Exhibit at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida
Gold Bullion recovered from sunken Spanish galleons "Nusestra Señora de Atocha," "Santa Margarita" and "Buen Jesus"
Ingots are marked with a variety of stamps, including circular tax stamps, mintmarks, Roman numerals to signify the purity of the gold in karats, and Arabic numerals denoting their weight. Marks are located in several areas on the ingots so that when they were cut to a desired weight the pieces would still bear some portion of the official stamps.
According to their manifests, the “Atocha” carried 125 gold ingots, discs and bits, and the “Margarita” had 34 pieces. Over 220 ingots have been recovered from these ships to date, suggesting at least 60 pieces were contraband. Smuggled ingots bear no tax stamps only Roman and Arabic numerals. There are two in this case, the far left and right.
Exhibit at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida