Shipwreck Artifacts Unidentified ca.-1450 Chinese wreck off Indonesia
1775. Small earthenware mercury vessel, European, with modern iron stand. 731 grams, 7” tall and 5” in diameter at its widest. Simple, conical flask with small, lipless hole in the broad top tapering to a small, flat bottom, most of the grayish surface covered with whitish coral, with some shells still rattling around inside, elegantly displayed. Estimate: $200-$300.
“Power Plant wreck” (late 1500s) off Hutchinson Island, Florida
1776. Silver (contraband) spike, very rare and important. 220 grams, 7-1/2” long. At various times since at least the 1950s, locals have found coins and small silver ingots in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant on the east coast of Florida, undoubtedly evidence of a Spanish shipwreck in the ocean nearby, and like all Spanish ships, this one apparently had contraband like this piece, which was cast from pure silver and delicately hammered into the ship to be retrieved later by the smuggler who know just which spike was the “one,” with moderate surface corrosion but still straight and solid and with head and point still intact, a unique item with very rare provenance. Estimate: $500-up.
Atocha, sunk in 1622 west of Key West, Florida 1777. Long, ornate, gold chain, 822 links plus fob, approx. 11’ long. 697 grams. This is the kind of chain Mel Fisher used to drape
over big investors’ shoulders! Read the title again—ELEVEN FEET LONG, each 1/4” link smooth but with ribbed sides (the fob 3/4” and ribbed all over), giving it an ornate appearance overall, quite unlike any of the chains sold in the original Christie’s (New York) auction of June 1988 except in length, the best of which (lot 174, comparable to this piece in quality but much shorter, also from the Margarita instead of the Atocha) sold for a whopping $319,000! Also note the high intrinsic value (currently over $35,000), if you assume 22K gold like most Spanish artifacts. With Fisher photo-certificate #00A-57803, personally inscribed by president Kim Fisher. Estimate: $60,000-$90,000.
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