Accession Number

2004.006.0001

Creation Date

circa 1622

Description

A small gold ingot recovered from the wreck of the 1622 ship Buen Jesus (aka Seahawk I) sunk south of the Dry Tortugas in the Straits of Florida during the same hurricane that took the galleons Atocha and Santa Margarita. The bar is stamped twice on its upper face with the Roman numerals XXI, indicating that it is 21 karat gold. This piece is only a portion of the original bar, as it shows a chop score on the underside, at which point it was broken. Dimensions:12.3 cm L x 3.5 cm W x 1.4 cm H x 650.8 grams.

Exhibition Label

Case/Object Caption (2023):

Gold Bars
Gold (Peru, c.1620)
Gifts of Jamestown Inc., Mel and Dolores Fisher, Museum Acquisition Fund
1985.007.0001a, 1986.003.0004, 1986.008.0048, 1986.008.0078, 2004.006.0001

Gold bars were being carried aboard the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, the Santa Margarita, and the Buen Jesus, as well as other ships in the fleet. These are called “finger bars” because the assayer would simply draw his finger through wet sand and then pour molten gold into the shallow trough he had made.

Gold was subject to tax and most of the bars bear crescent-shaped stamps that indicate that the king had been paid his 20% levy. However, smuggling was an issue. Those bars with no tax marks are likely to have been contraband. Sidestepping the royal tax was too tempting for some to avoid!
Previous Exhibit Label (Removed 2022):

Gold Bullion 20.5 – 23.75 Karats
Recovered from the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, Santa Margarita & Buen Jesus
Gift of Jamestown Treasure Salvors, Inc. & acquired through donation.

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 Santa 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. Can you find them?