299

Small, thick, brick-like "tumbaga" silver bar #1128, marked with assayer/owner B~Vo 5lb

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Shipwreck Ingots Start Price:3,000.00 USD Estimated At:3,500.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Small, thick, brick-like  tumbaga  silver bar #1128, marked with assayer/owner B~Vo 5lb
SOLD
Sign In To View Winning Bid
This item SOLD at 2012 Oct 25 @ 15:31UTC-4 : AST/EDT
All items are genuine unless noted. Most shipwreck coins and artifacts come with a certificate of authenticity (please check the description for each item). By bidding in this auction you understand and agree to the Terms and Conditions posted here.
Small, thick, brick-like "tumbaga" silver bar #1128, marked with assayer/owner B~Vo, serial RCxxx and fineness, rare as uncleaned. 6-3/4" x 3" x 1" weight 5 lb 4 oz av. Like the last lot, this bar was among a handful that were sold at auction prior to cleaning, although this one is not so dark and coppery, just has some spots of coral encrustation on the top, the bottom more or less smooth and showing all the markings, boldly impressed but a little smoothed over, the serial number and B~Vo above the fineness 9cccxxx (830/2400 = 34.6% fine), which is rather low for such a visibly silver-looking bar. The assayer's "bite" appears on a top corner, as is typical for this somewhat standard shape among the "tumbaga" bars. Curiously to the right of the fineness is a rubbed-out spot that appears to have been a previous fineness marking in an earlier style, indication of re-assaying that is known to have occurred on many of these bars. From the "Tumbaga wreck" (ca. 1528), and pedigreed to the Christie's (London) auction of April 28, 1993, with original lot-tag #272 and with original Gordus assay report from 1993.