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Silver "tumbaga" bar M-26, 2362 grams, marked with fineness I9cccc L (1950/2400), serial RC, assayer

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Shipwreck Ingots Start Price:4,000.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,500.00 USD
Silver  tumbaga  bar M-26, 2362 grams, marked with fineness I9cccc L (1950/2400), serial RC, assayer
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This item SOLD at 2024 May 07 @ 11:39UTC-4 : AST/EDT
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Silver "tumbaga" bar M-26, 2362 grams, marked with fineness I9cccc L (1950/2400), serial RC, assayer B~Vo and partial tax stamp, ex-"Tumbaga Wreck" (ca. 1528). 7-1/4" x 3-1/4" x 3/4". A very tidily cast "half brick" of silver, XRF-tested at about 91-92% silver and 5% copper and as much as 1% gold (typically higher fineness than indicated in its time, either fraudulently or simply the result of chemical leaching in the ocean), with typical trace elements consistent with melted-down "tumbaga" silver artifacts, the top surface in fact showing shadows of former shapes but the sides and bottom smooth with crisp corners, diagonal assayer's "bite" in one corner, clear markings on bottom, the assayer-mark believed to stand for Bernardino de Vazquez and the serial number believed to refer to batches of bars grouped by fineness (see Tumbaga Saga, by Agustín García-Barneche). From the "Tumbaga Wreck" (ca. 1528), with Sedwick photo-certificate and original Armstrong book Tumbaga Silver for Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (1993).