Silver Bar

Accession Number1986.006.0002

VesselNuestra Señora de Atocha (1622)

Date1622

DescriptionThis relatively small and flat silver ingot bears the Roman numeral IUCLXIIII, a Potosí mintmark, and a date of 1622, meaning it was the 1164^th silver bar produced at that Andean mining center in that year. A central “scoop” on the face of the ingot was made by the assayer when he sampled the silver to determine the ingot’s purity. Another set of smaller roman numerals read IIUCCCLXXX, showing the silver was 2380 parts pure silver of 2400, affirmed by the adjoining mark of an assayer named Mexia. The face is marked with four shield-style stamps and a large “A.” The A indicates the ingot was part of the crown’s annual one-fifth share of the silver from Potosí. It was one of 133 such “A” bars on Atocha.