2004.004.0001
Silver Bar
Physical Object
2004.004.0001
Nuestra Señora de Atocha (1622)
circa 1620 – 1622
This silver ingot appears to have a corroded Roman numeral registry number IIUDCCCLXXIII (2873), but that number does not appear on the Atocha manifest. The gouged end of the ingot is a characteristic of silver bars produced at the Andean mining city of Oruro. 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. 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.