1465

Gold and red-coral rosary, complete and intact. Spanish 1715 Fleet, east coast of Florida

Currency:USD Category:Artifacts / Shipwreck Artifacts Start Price:8,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
Gold and red-coral rosary, complete and intact. Spanish 1715 Fleet, east coast of Florida
SOLD
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This item SOLD at 2015 Apr 30 @ 19:46UTC-4 : AST/EDT
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Gold and red-coral rosary, complete and intact. 56.08 grams total, about 34" long. A most impressive religious jewel, with all the coral and gold beads intact (a few with small barnacles still attached), very similar to the specimen we offered in our last auction (same beach find) but with a few more coral beads (53 in all, being five "decades" around the neck and three beads down to the cross) in addition to the 5 gold beads (known as "paternosters") and with slightly different crucifix, this one with 1-3/4" flat cross surmounted with separately cast Jesus figure and engraved with INRI at top and the skull and crossbones of Golgotha at bottom (the backside plain), integrated loop at top. Red coral was a popular constituent of rosaries as it was believed to protect against magic spells, going back to Greek mythology that gave red coral's origin as "the spurts of blood that gushed forth when Medusa's head was cut off by Perseus."

NOTE: that 90% of hammer price will go to the Caron Foundation center for drug-addiction treatment. With photo-certificate and appraisal from 2010. Recovered from: Spanish 1715 Fleet, east coast of Florida