Philip III "Pre-Motherlode Atocha" Cob 4 Reales ND (1598-1621), Potosi mint, KM9. 7.55gm. Grade "10 points". Salvaged from the "Nuestra Señora de Atocha" (sunk in 1622 off Key West, Florida). Sold with original flip and 1976 Treasure Salvors photo-certificate #2730 of the Cape Coral Bank (State of Florida holdings returned to the salvors), hand-signed by Eugene Lyon, Duncan Mathewson, Austin Fowles, Mel Fisher and Dolores (Deo) Fisher The Nuestra Señora de Atocha was the Admiral Galleon of the Tierra Firme Fleet, a twenty-eight-ship fleet carrying an unprecedented amount of treasure from the Americas. Sailing from Havana bound to Spain on the 4th of September 1622, the armada was hit by a massive hurricane in the Florida Keys, most of the fleet being decimated and the treasure sinking to the Atlantic seabed. The Spanish efforts to retrieve the precious cargo weren't fruitful, which led to the scattering of the vast amount of treasure across the Florida coast with subsequent hurricanes. The original manifesto of the Atocha was impressive: 24 tons of silver in 1038 ingots, 180,000 Pesos in silver coins, 582 copper ingots, 125 gold bars and discs, 1,200 pounds of worked silverware and other goods; and that's only what was officially transported, since smuggling treasure to avoid taxes was very common in the period, with some estimating that a large percentage of the total cargo was in contraband. In 1969, treasure hunter Mel Fisher began a long-lasting, 16-year quest to locate the treasure. Over the years, isolated coins and artifacts were found scattered across Florida's "treasure coast", many given to investors who funded the operation. In 1973 three silver bars were found and matched to the original 17th century manifesto, leading the crew closer to the main wreck site. By 1980 a significant part of the Santa Margarita had been located, counting with gold bars, silver coins and jewelry. On July 20th, 1985, the motherlode was located, when divers found a "reef of bars". The main pile of the Atocha provided countless artifacts which quickly became immersed in Florida's pop culture and would later become perhaps the world's most famous shipwreck treasure in history. From the Thomas E. Scanlin Atocha Collection HID09801242017 © 2023 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

To the auctioneer's website