Silver Bar

Accession Number2001.014.0001

VesselNuestra Señora de Atocha (1622)

Datecirca 1620 – 1622

DescriptionThis silver ingot was being shipped to Spain on the galleon Atocha by Martin Salgado de Rivera, one of 24 that he sent. His stylized “SAL” mark is prominent on the face of the bar. It also bears the foundry mark of Oruro and the date 1622. The gouged end of the ingot is a characteristic of silver bars produced at the Andean mining city. The gouge-mark was made by the assayer when he sampled the silver to determine the ingot’s purity. A small set of Roman numerals reads IIUCCCLXXX, or 2380, indicating the silver was found to be 2380 parts of pure silver out of 2400. The larger Roman numerals DXIIII (514) indicate that the ingot was the 514^th produced at Oruro in 1622. A “V” in the corner of the face is the mark of Atocha silvermaster Jacobo de Vreder and an indicator that he registered the bar aboard the galleon.